No Rest for Crime
by tmomo
Summary: Commissioner Iruka and the Scarecrow are Konoha's sworn protectors. In a city riddled with crime, it's hard to trust anyone. KakaIru Batman!AU For the 2016 KakaIru Summer Fest, Prompt 3: "So Batman!AU I would like Kakashi as Batman/Bruce Wayne and Iruka as commissioner Gordon.
1. Scarecrow

This fic was part of the 2016 Summer Festive over at the Kakairu-fest  
Go check out all the other fics people have written and the awesome art!

* * *

 **No Rest for Crime**

"Get out of my office, Hatake." Kakashi was pressing up against his side with a hand snaking around Iruka's wrist.

"But you're so comfy~" Elbowing him, Kakashi stumbled back a foot dramatically. "Gah, wounded by my lover."

"If anyone heard you, they'd think you were serious."

"Let them, the rumours would be a nice change from everything else circulating through this office." Straightening up, Kakashi smoothed out his suit and peeked out the shutters into the offices of men and women who could never be trusted despite being the head of Konoha's security. The only man in the office Kakashi could spare even a bit of trust for was the dear commissioner who was then rolling up a newspaper to swat him with.

"I swear, Hatake." Iruka waved his threatening roll in the other's direction. "Stop bad mouthing my department."

"I don't mean to. It's just that I wonder if the police force really is a force that protects or a force that prattles."

The furrowed brows were a definite signal to stop and Kakashi shut his mouth. Papers were shifted on Iruka's desk and Kakashi finally sat in his designated seat to sign off the papers they'd gathered to sign in the first place.

"You know, you don't have to meet with me to sign these papers. You can meet with… Um…" Iruka was struggling to find the name of the woman from the coordinator's team; the one from sponsorships.

"Debbie," Kakashi filled in. "Her name is Debbie and she's actually the one who gave me these papers. It turns out that there's a line right there that you have to sign and I thought that it might be easier on everyone if I just went directly to you."

"Of course…" Smooth eyes matched the smirk on Iruka's face. For one, the commissioner had been the one to approve the proposal and he had already signed the paper when he'd approved it. He ran a hand over his smiling mouth and looked away from Kakashi's sultry eyes.

"Of course," Kakashi echoed, sitting back in his seat. Iruka's hand went for a pen and was signing when Chief Sarutobi burst in without knocking.

They all stood in the room uncomfortably for a few moments as if Asuma had discovered something nasty going on. Composing himself, Iruka stood with Kakashi following suit. "Yes, Asuma?"

"Nine-tails. He had another breakdown and broke out and took half a wall with him." As Asuma continued, Iruka was already pulling on his coat and following him out with Kakashi calmly on their tail. "Orochimaru and three other convicts are loose on the streets."

"Does the press know?"

"Not yet but there are rumours spreading and we have three reporters already knocking at our front door."

"Not a word to them until we find Orochimaru and the others. We can't do anything about Naruto until he calms down." They stepped into the elevator and the commissioner turned his attention to their guest.

"I'm really sorry about this, Kakashi. You have the papers but if you were looking for more information about the event and who will be attending then you can ask…" With an embarrassing pause, Iruka fumbled for a name which Kakashi generously supplied. "Yes, Debbie. You can ask her about that."

"I'm more interested if you'll be there." Immediately, Iruka snapped his head to Kakashi to see the older man looking at the elevator floor with the occasional glance up at him.

Biting back a smile, the commissioner stood taller and drew his shoulders back. "I might be popping in for a few minutes to give the opening speech."

There was a lopsided grin on Kakashi's face. With that much tension in the air, Asuma was glad to rush out when the elevator doors opened and he quickly said, "I think we've got more important things on our hands. First giant monster then you can flirt all you guys want."

"Of course," Iruka was blushing. The three headed through the parking garage; police cars were already zooming out of the parking lot with lights flashing. Stopping at his own car where his driver was waiting for him, Kakashi couldn't help but study the younger officer as Iruka and Asuma were quietly talking.

"I hope he isn't headed any further downtown." Hands were fixing his tie and smoothing out his powder blue shirt and it sent a shiver down Kakashi's spine.

"You have my number, Commissioner." When Iruka looked up at his words, Kakashi sent him another sly smirk and retreated to his car without needing to see the flush that covered Iruka's cheekbones.

As soon as doors were closed, the officers' faces switched to serious mode and they were both in their own seats, backing out before Kakashi's driver even started their engine.

Blinking on their gsp system, their radio started to blare voices of frightened police officers trying to communicate amongst each other and Iruka had to put up his end as they turned their lights on and zoomed out of the parking lot.

"What's the status?"

The line went dead quiet for a few seconds with what Iruka could only imagine as their officers sihing with relief.

"Sir," a voice similar to Raidou's took the lead. "Naruto is heading for town but he's still a mile out before he reaches the suburbs. He is currently stuck in Snake Cosmetic's warehouse but I don't expect his to stay stuck long; he's getting pretty agitated."

"Let's stay calm and stay as far back as possible without him leaving our sights and no guns. I repeat no guns. If you see any of the other convicts, coerce and detain. If they do not cooperate, you are allowed to use a taser and baton but no bullets." Sighing, Iruka flicked off his intercom and Asuma scoffed.

"You think they'll listen?"

"Nope." Iruka pressed his face into a hand as Asuma licked on their sirens and they sped through the city into the suburbs.

* * *

"Sir, don't you think the commissioner can handle this?" His butler was looking at him through the rearview mirror but Kakashi paid no attention as he unpinned the cufflinks off his jacket. "Don't you think it's a little insulting? The commissioner does know Naruto very well after all."

Finally, Kakashi let out a breath of uncertain air as he pinned the cufflinks to the inside of his jacket's pocket. There was an uneasy feeling in the air around him. Something was telling him that he needed to do something; as if unrest was whispering into his neck. "I need to go. If just to make sure they're okay. We are talking about an asylum breach."

"Of course, sir." They slid into the garage of Hatake Manor and stepped out of the car and into the hall leading to the manor. The little brick corridor then started to sink into the ground quickly until finally stopping at the lowest level of the mansion.

Shoes stepped soundly into the velvety main room of Kakashi's hideaway and Kakashi spoke clearly into the room, just close enough to the leather couch to touch. "Those who break the rules are trash but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."

To the general public, this room looked like the ultimate man-cave but there were few people on the planet who knew that if you spoke the right command, had the same voice and tone as Kakashi and stood in the same spot Kakashi was, then the giant 4k television would slide up into the ceiling to reveal where Kakashi kept his suit, weapons, armour and assortment of gadgets that no one else would know how to use.

"They're at Snake Cosmetics right now. Their warehouse location has already been uploaded to your watch but they still can't find the other convict's locations." Kakashi was already slipping into his pitch black suits, his stained black armour automatically sliding over his shoulders to wraps around his chest and thighs. Looking on with a looking of much anxiousness, the butler tried not to let his shaking leg show. "I'm not comfortable with you going out there and risk getting seen again."

Stepping out of the secret room, Kakashi ignored the other man and stepped back into the elevator. "That will be all, Obito."

Scowling, Obito threw Kakashi's mask at him and sighed, "just make sure that you're not seen, idiot."

* * *

Iruka was treading through the smoke of eyeshadow that had yet to clear from Naruto ripping out five different plastic-wrapped pallets. He stepped cautiously over broken eyeshadow palettes and listened beyond the sounds of officers carefully following in his footsteps and the screech of a machine in the distance.

A hand was tapping Iruka's shoulder and he swiftly turned to where the officer behind him was pointing above them to their right. A tail was peeking out from the edge of a steel vat. Holding a fist up for his officers to see, Iruka gingerly stepped away from his group until he was in plain view for Naruto to see him, asking the air quietly, "Naruto?"

A head snapped around and the small fox was staring right at him, eyes blazing.

"I know you're in there." Iruka was kneeling down to the floor, showing Naruto how he put down the gun. He was straightening back up and saying softly with a small smile, "and you know me. I'm Iruka. And I'm here to take you to somewhere safe."

"No!" Naruto shouted, his tails and ears flattening as his hunches went up. The other officers flinched in their spot out of Naruto's direct vision.

"Yes," Iruka asserted. "It's not safe here. There are all sorts of chemicals here that could hurt you or worse kill you."

At those words, Iruka knew he'd made a mistake. Claws slapped against hard concrete between Iruka and the others and a nervous bullet was fired.

"Shit," Iruka swore as Naruto dived away from the bullet and into the tower of pallets that faltered over the other officers. Suddenly, the whole wall came crumbling down and erupted in a wave of dust and glitter, Iruka quickly sliding into another aisle to hide.

On the other side of the wreckage, Asuma hurried through the clouds, covering his mouth and eyes with his shirt to check on his officers. Everyone looked fine; colourful but fine. Amongst the settling smoke, the hungry eyes that watched them vanished and Asuma quickly tapped his headset. "Umino, come in Commissioner Umino."

* * *

As he stepped into the building, Kakashi listened carefully for a response on the line he was hacked into and clenched his fists when he heard no response. Asuma was calling out again but Kakashi had already tapped out the connection.

"I'm getting multiple heat signatures inside the warehouse but I have two other signatures heading into the main building." Obito's voice rang clearly through his helmet and Kakashi had a sneaking suspicion creeping up his spine.

"Transfer it to my watch and I'll take it from here, Obito."

"Sending data now." Through the tint of the visor, the small screen popped up a loading bar briefly before the translucent screen in his helmet flashed a faint map with the multiple moving heat signatures.

"Thanks, I'll let you know what happens." Before Obito could say anything more, Kakashi tapped out of that connection too and hopped quickly from his outlook on the roof. In a matter of seconds, he had zipped towards the two moving heat signatures.

Growling and roaring pierced the air just as the wall of the factory nearest to Kakashi exploded into rubble and dust as a steel tank came soaring out of it.

"Why, thank you," Kakashi muttered to himself as he stepped through the opening.

Inside, the nine-tailed fox was perched atop another steel tank, this time taller and dripping as Naruto's claw dug into it. He hadn't seen Kakashi step through the rubble into the building yet until the figure he'd been running from hopped down next to Kakashi.

"Cat."

"Hey there, staw man," the man purred as he slid around Kakashi to stand on his other side, leaning his arm against the armoured shoulder. "Where have you been? I missed my favourite superhero."

Under the mask, Kakashi was trying to hold back a smirk.

If Kakashi was a superhero, then Cat was an anti-hero. While Kakashi involved himself in cases of simple and urgent nature, Cat was more of the person to deal with the heavy-handed ones; cases that were based heavily in the underbelly of Konoha.

"I had a dentist appointment." Hearing those words, Cat was smirking at him under this black hoodie.

"Why don't you go and take care of the other escapees?" The Cat patted his shoulder and stood straight, letting it drag off him. "I've got things covered here."

"Handle a ten-foot tall demon fox? I think you're overestimating yourself, kitty cat."

"Aw, you don't trust me?" The fake hurt in his voice was almost funny and the other man ignored the comment to hop up to the nearest vat at Naruto's eye level, black-clothed Cat just behind him.

"Naruto." Kakashi called out. The fox snapped eyes to him.

"Scarecrow." Came a growl, the fox twitching and itching to throw something at him.

"Let's get you home, Naruto." He decided to play the sympathy card. "The commissioner is worried about you. You know how much he cares. Do you really want to hurt his feelings?"

"If only we had a commissioner here." Cat grumbled and Kakashi silently agreed.

"How about we go find Iruka?" Kakashi suggested only to have a defiant no in return.

"I stay." Naruto was gripping the sides of the tank hard.

"Oi." Beside Kakashi, the Cat stepped forward and called, "why don't you take responsibility, brat."

Kakashi snapped his head to the other man. What the heck was this guy thinking?

Before he could ask, Naruto let out a nasty screech and flung himself in their direction, both of them flipping off the vat and out of his path. The beast charged after Cat and Kakashi watched as the nimble figure flipped and hopped out of a few close calls until he stopped after a neat flip and Naruto stumbled, foot catching on something before he dropped to the ground. Kakashi took advantage and shot a net out from his suit, one that bolted itself to the floor.

While Naruto screeched and thrashed, Cat gave Kakashi a blank look. "That's what I was gonna do. But better."

They both slowly approached the writhing fox as Naruto was howling. Cat was kneeling and holding out a hand, leaving it outreached in a sign of harmlessness. With his arms crossed, Kakashi stayed back to scan the perimeter, knowing that the police and the commissioner were going to show up soon and even though he had to leave asap there was a fluttering feeling in his chest.

The only thing left to do was get the Cat out of here. Even though Cat was usually out of sight for most of their excursions, the younger man had earned himself a reputation for being involved in the nasty parts of the city. It wasn't a life that needed to be looked into and poked and prodded with. Kakashi also knew that the Cat wasn't the richest of superheroes. He was probably one of the poorest. It showed in the frayed edges of his cat-eared sweater and the love that the snug-fitting jeans had seen.

Was he curious about this sidekick he had acquired? Of course. There was always something intriguing about people in hoods who had half their faces in the dark half the time and wore one of those old-fashioned, comic book masks that tied at the back of his head.

"Cat, the real pros are headed our way," he said as he quickly approached the two of them and Cat had a brief moment of distraction. His eyes turned up and would have met Kakashi's if not for the helmet but the Scarecrow had had enough time to see how keen and sharp those black eyes were.

The team of police were rapidly approaching them and Kakashi had taken a split second to glance at the map projected inside his mask when a flash of movement caught his eye. The Cat was flying out of the way of the giant swipe of Naruto's paw that rippled through the wires of netting and shredding the stomach fabric of the Cat's sweater.

Reacting with lightning speed, Kakashi sent a dart from his sleeve flying and into Naruto's neck. With a few seconds of wobbly walking, Naruto collapsed, licking at his face and lips in confusion.

"Easy boy," Kakashi was sitting on the kid's back to tie up his wrists as the fox melted away into thin air and revealing a small, skinny blond. "Didn't want to have to do this."

"Wan...ed to.. See suh...n," shoulders slid down as Naruto went completely limp and Kakashi ruffled the kid's hair.

"You might've gotten the chance if you hadn't used the Kyuubi to break out." Turning his attention upward, he ran his eyes over the tanks and vats in hopes of seeing a non-dead Cat.

No time to get up and look, he bounced away from the boy and slipped out of the room just as the pack of police entered the room, pointing guns. They had caught a glimpse of him but hadn't gone after him.

Seconds later, a shuffling Iruka stumbled into the room, hands on his hips and listening as Asuma explained everything into his ear. He nodded and strode over to Naruto's side; the two officer holding up the boy's head.

"Hey there," he was smiling softly, hand on the boy's head. "This is the second time this month. I hope you know that what you're nurses will want to do when you get back."

The look Naruto gave him was long and painful and Iruka bit his lip. "Let's get something to eat then."

* * *

"I am completely and utterly unsurprised you took him out for ramen." Iruka turned around to face where the voice had come from and found himself looking at the tall and handsome Kakashi Hatake in a black and white suit. While Iruka smirked at the comment and looked back down at his own chest to fix his tie, Kakashi was studying how Iruka's hair looked so soft tied up and the way the black snuggly hugged those thighs.

Guests throughout the party were glancing their way as the duo made their way side-by-side through the large congregation of classy people. Even though they were surrounded by Konoha's richest and most dazzling, Kakashi was still the shining gem of them all and Iruka was far more respected than anyone else in the building besides Kakashi. Together, they seemed like an impossible goal that only a few could approach and converse with, especially the richer of the two.

Sliding a hand into a pocket, Kakashi admired the younger man's stability and could understand how Iruka had become a commissioner at such a young age. He let his mouth fall into a charismatic smile and turned up the charm, "it's a good thing he was able to calm down enough."

Iruka's eyes grew cold and he shook his head, "that damn Scarecrow. He didn't have to tranquilized the kid. Those meds were so strong that they would have killed Naruto."

"But they didn't." Kakashi finished and Iruka shot him a look that made him bite his lip, only a bit of regret settling inside him. "Thankfully."

"There are other ways of dealing with special kids." Iruka stated defiantly and Kakashi smirked again.

"Special."

"That's what he is. He was born that way. Born into an asylum. The poor kid." Kakashi softened in the way Iruka's words radiated sympathy and nostalgia.

"He'll be fine as long as he has people like you to look out for him." Kakashi said and slid a hand other to grab Iruka's shoulder in a firm grip; one that make into flinch away.

Iruka's shoulder snapped away and Kakashi couldn't help but looked at him, his mind analysing that reaction. Eyes locking, Iruka chuckled and excused himself, "rolled onto it in the warehouse. The nurse said it wasn't so bad but there's still a huge bruise."

Pulling his hand back, Kakashi said, "that must have been a pretty bad roll. You should be at home, resting."

"And leave you all alone with these bureaucrats?" Iruka shot him a smirk. "Of course not."

The smirk was so infectious that Kakashi smiled again and shook his head. "At least promise me you'll take the next day of work off. You deserve it after yesterday."

The lights started to dim and a technician came over to let Iruka know that it was almost time to give his speech. Iruka nodded and Kakashi watched him as he started to follow the man to the stage, only turning back to smile at Kakashi saying, "I haven't taken a day off in five years. Neither has crime, Kakashi."

"Congrats, by the way," He called out and Iruka waved a hand over his head; the one that wasn't connected to the bruised shoulder.

As soon as Iruka was out of sight, Kakashi tilted his head to the side and Obito was next to him in seconds, "yes, sir?"

"How much do you think a police commissioner makes a year?" He muttered just low enough for his butler to hear.

Obito frowned, "I don't suspect very much. With the way the mayor runs this town, there's a higher chance of Iruka doubling as the convenience store clerk."

"Hmm…" Kakashi had brought up his hands to pay with his cuffs in an anxious manner.

"What's on your mind, sir?" Obito asked. After a moment's pause, Kakashi shook the vague feeling out of his head and decided to focus on the occasion.

"Nothing a Scarecrow can't handle."


	2. Umino

Standing near the stage, Iruka didn't need to look far to see Kakashi and his butler Obito moving to the side of the gathered crowd; Kakashi standing tall and intimidating in the manner that made people fear and lust after him. On one hand, he felt odd that Kakashi always seemed to hover near him. On the other, Iruka didn't have to wonder for too long why such a powerful man would want to get involved with him.

There was always that grim reminder that Iruka was now the commissioner; a task many thought he had not been up to taking. The city of Konoha was no longer the peaceful, quiet city that was admired for security. After their influential politicians moved to the bigger cities, Konoha was left behind and forgotten as taxes climbed and crime soared. Commissioners were either killed, fired or "missing" so often that their police forces were slim and spread thin over such a large city.

Not only was the city scummy but Iruka could always feel the claws of the underbelly of Konoha trying to dig their way into his department, knowing full well that corruption was just a step away for most of his officers who were struggling to make ends meet as it was.

Iruka shifted his tie, tightening it and smoothing it out in hopes that he didn't look as ragged and tired as he felt. He knew deep down that there wasn't much he could do in terms of budgeting or the mafia but everyone knew that he was one of the only mantles of true morality left.

"I would like to thank our special guests for being able to make it to tonight's events." The slim black woman who had taken the stage stunned the crowd with the fiery red dress that matched her hair. She was crooning out to the crowd, "my family and I have hosted this event to show our appreciation and gratitude for the great strides of improvement we've seen in Konoha's economy and safety through the valiant efforts of our very own police department as well all saw with the quick and safe recollection of the nine-tails. Please welcome our dear commissioner, Iruka Umino!"

Stepping out on stage as the audience clapped vigorously, Iruka threw away the fear and anxiety he was feeling in place of confidence and strength. At the glass podium, he blinked only once at the lighting and said, "thank you very much for inviting me."

The room quieted back down and Iruka looked on at all the people who gathered there to show their support. He recognized each and every face; the total sum of the all the people who supported him in the entire city of Konoha. "I would like to thank each and every one of you that came tonight not only because your support means everything to the department that I run but also because the Raika corporation for efficient energy is hosting this amazing party from their renewable energy source and it would be a shame not to show off their new eco-friendly building."

The crowd laughed at that and he felt relieved for a brief moment before he went on, thanking the sponsors and donors with a smile that felt fake. He continued on with the formalities of thanking the sponsors and finished his speech to an applause, nodding as he passed the mic back to the host and stood politely by as she wrapped up the welcoming speech to the beginning of the pumping music of a party.

"Commissioner," Iruka looked up as he stepped off the stage and was not surprised to see a few reporters eagerly awaiting him but he was surprised to see that familiar head of flashing silver hair again. He indulged in a small smile.

"You know, there are a lot more people here you could converse with," Obito adjusted his cuffs again and Kakashi shrugged.

"I see these people everyday at meetings or in the newspaper. Besides, makes me look cool and mysterious." Obito gave him a look and Kakashi raised a brow in question.

Shaking his head, Obito scoffed and smirked. "So, you think you're being mysterious and cool by hanging around the chief of police?"

At a loss for words, Kakashi bit his tongue and Obito chuckled even harder when he saw the barely noticeable flush that saw creeping up Kakashi's neck. With a slap to Kakashi's back as Iruka was finishing up with the reporters, Obito smiled warmly, "I was just about to fetch Kakashi a drink and we were wondering if you wanted one as well, commissioner."

"Oh, well, Asuma's the designated driver tonight so I guess I could sneak a sip." Watching Iruka grin at Obito made Kakashi want to flush even more but thankfully he was able to keep it down. Butler nodding and moving languidly through the crowd, Kakashi glanced at Iruka to find the younger man staring at him.

"Commissioner."

"Hatake," they greeted with mutual nods and Kakashi let his anxious smile peek through.

"I hear that the big bad wolf of the police department will he off this Friday." He looked up to see a questioning look on Iruka's face and quickly continued, "I mean you, of course."

"Oh, pfff," Iruka smirked and looked down at his feet as his face burned. "I might be off this Friday but usually the department keeps me on call just in case."

Kakashi kept the smile in his face, knowing very well that Iruka meant himself when he meant department. It made him admire Iruka even more. "How about an engagement where the invitee is welcome to leave any time they please?"

With a huff and bite of his lip, Iruka smirked right back. "Are you asking me out, Mr. Hatake?"

"Mr. Hatake was my father," Kakashi corrected with a step closer and Iruka's smirk faded slightly but he didn't retreat.

"Kakashi." It was soft and serious and Iruka couldn't help but shiver inside when Kakashi's eyes met his again and they froze.

A buzz from his pocket snapped Iruka to attention and he wiped out his phone. It was Asuma. Immediately, Iruka's hand went to the gun hidden within the folds of his suit and Kakashi followed Iruka's gaze to the main entrance where moments later the room exploded into white.

Iruka's ears were ringing but he managed to open his eyes through the smoke that filled his vision, finding himself flat on the floor. He sat up and took in the blazing flames and rubble. The sprinklers went off and he started to hear the screams and quick steps of people running. He stood and was moving towards the center of where the blast of fire and power came from.

Further into the mess of people, Iruka was moving quickly to reach the bar and found the main area affected where bodies were strewn around, some alive and groaning while others were unmoving. In the center of the blast, he found bits of what seemed like a human and white fragments that appeared to be bone. Suicide bomber?

"Chief!" Asuma appeared through the main door of smoke, panting from the run from his surveillance car. "Fire on it's way and medics just around the corner."

"Good," Iruka nodded. "We need everyone injured taken care of and everyone who attended on file. Get me the security footage asap before the press get here."

With a nod, Asuma was already on the phone and calling up all personnel as Iruka scanned the blood stained rug and people who were getting up and almost hysterically clinging to each other.

He took a moment to breathe and pull his emotions inside himself, taking the pressure around him and turning it into a blanket to wrap himself in. With a curt nod to himself, Iruka strode out of through shattered glass from the long row of entrance doors and into the street just as trucks from different departments pulled up. Lights were flashing on his face and he quickly lead motioned for the new police car that rolled up to pull out the barriers from their trunk and explained the situation.

Once the perimeter was handled, he moved back to the entrance where dusty and bloodied guests were beginning to stumble out to have their licenses taken and hurried to the paramedics. Taking the megaphone that was handed to him by a stern looking Asuma, Iruka pointed it just high enough to reach everyone and not blow out the ears of those around him. "Thank you everyone for being so calm. Give identification to the officer at the front and wait for the next wave of paramedics. Please make way for the emergency crew so that we may get to the injured as quick as possible."

Iruka handed the megaphone back and stepped back through the shattered glass as a gurney was wheeled in quickly to the nearest figure prone on the floor. People milled around while others simply stood shocked and he hurried through the crowd to where an officer he recognized as Kurenai and a man who looked like the managers were already unlocking the hall where the security and manager's offices. He stepped closer to the hall and waited until Kurenai came out with her briefcase locked and ready to head back to the station for analysis.

As he watched her discreetly slip out, a young officer with a clipboard hurried and up started speaking as they both headed towards the blast had been. "All who had injuries have been taken care of and are on their way to the hospital; all identified."

"Thank you, Aota," Iruka patted his shoulder in thanks and Aota nodded.

"Would you like me to find the guest list and cross-reference those who signed in with my list and the uninjured?"

"That would be very helpful, thank you," the young man nodded and Iruka called after him, "get me a list of those who weren't accounted for."

"Yes, sir!" Aota hurried off and Iruka stepped up to where a man in a brown trench coat was already studying the taped off zone.

"Detective."

"Commissioner," Yamato had taken his outstretched hand and was giving Iruka a grim face. "I'm sorry that our second meeting had to be under such circumstances."

"All part of the job," Iruka felt that his face reflected Yamato's and turned his attention to the mess in front of them. "As soon as we have the guest list, names of the injured and those who were present at the time of the blast, I'll send them your way. Kurenai is already heading to the station with the security footage and we'll get you a copy of those too."

"Thank you very much, commissioner. I hope that we find whoever is responsible for this." He turned his eyes to the splatter of human remains on the walls, floor and bar.

"Or was," Iruka shook his again and they were about to part way when Yamato stopped him.

"Make sure you see a doctor, commissioner."

"Hmm?"

"You're bleeding a bit… Everywhere." At Iruka's confusion, Yamato pointed to his own face in demonstration; right side of his temple, nose and lip.

"Oh," he felt his nose and drew his hand back to find his fingers painted red, looking down to see dots and streaks painting his dress shirt and coat. "Thank you, detective, I'll get this taken care of."

They nodded politely and as Iruka was walking away, he realized how tired and hurt his body was. His side felt bruised as if he'd been hit by something from the blast. His lip was starting to swell and he knew there was going to be a mark in the morning. Looking down, he found his suit was dusted and hands shaking slightly. He tried to remember how close he'd been to the blast but could only remember people. Shit. Kakashi.

Snapping his head up, he hurried to the exit and started through the entrance of broken glass to find that a few reporters had shown up and were talking to Asuma to the side; one of them calling out, "commissioner!"

Iruka ignored him, heading straight for Aota who was talking to a few people dressed in fancy clothing; the last of the partygoers. When he spotted Iruka, he finished their conversation and stood at attention. "Sir!"

"I need to see that list of injured." Without hesitation, the clipboard was given to him and Iruka only had to run his eyes down the first page to see a name that made his heart drop. He swallowed against the knot in this throat and nodded as he handed it back. "Thank you, Aota."

As he was walking back inside, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Asuma was looking at him in concern. "Do you want me to drive you to the hospital?"

"Huh?" Was he that transparent?

"Your face is pretty messed up."

"Oh, yes this," Iruka coughed and felt his ribs pinch, an older bruise crying out as he put a hand it.

"Things are just about wrapped up here," Asuma was saying, eyes meeting Iruka's in concern. "You might have aggravated your last injury."

Iruka sighed and Asuma grabbed his elbow, "just because there are things going on doesn't mean you have to neglect your own health. I already feel bad about the last one."

"I'm sorry; I'll go get this taken care of. Thank you for your concern, Asuma. I don't mean to make you worry."

There was a look of mild frustration at the overly polite response but Asuma pushed it away and sighed, "Izumo's on his way to the hospital from the station. I'll get him to pick you up."

* * *

Obito came from a very large family. He had cousins upon cousins and too many aunts and uncles to count who all lived like kings and queens. The branch that Obito came from was smaller and more discreet. They prided themselves on earning their own money and staying in the shadows all the while making their way into other rich and powerful families, creating connections. Obito and Kakashi had know each other ever since they were kids and Obito would eventually work at the Hatake household after the passing of Sakumo Hatake, leading up to his residence as butler once he came of age.

They had been through so much together and Obito had been there from the start. It seemed as though he was always the one looking after Kakashi even in their younger years when they would butt heads constantly. Now, it was the other way around and Kakashi felt very useless.

The chair under him was plastic and tough. After sitting in it for what felt like hours now, he was beginning to cramp and feel stuck. Glancing at his watch, the time ticked just passed midnight and he ran his hands over his face. It had only been half an hour.

A shrill cry rang out from the baby a few rows down and whole waiting room sagged into their seats a little more; the little boy with a bloody wrapped foot just a few seats down starting to sniff and whimper again. Standing, Kakashi moved over to the vending machines and watched as his hands numbly fumbled with his wallet. A few moments later, he was handing over water bottles to a very frazzled but thankful mother and the older man who was trying to distract the young boy.

The doors slid open for more people to shuffle in and Kakashi found himself giving up his vacant seat to slouch against the wall. At this point, he was beyond worried. The image of Obito's broken body thrown behind the bar flashed into his mind and he started shaking. He'd seen worse but seeing someone so close to him like that was hitting too close to home. The nurses had told him to wait with the other and if he hadn't looked as shit as he felt then he probably would have been at least near the emergency room.

"Ah, Hatake." The familiar voice pulled him back to reality and he looked up.

"Kamizuki," Kakashi nodded to Izumo and the officer nodded back before looking around the waiting room.

"Glad to see you're still alive and kicking. Hey, have you seen the wheelchairs by any chance?" Izumo was scratching the back of his head and Kakashi nodded to the little niche just beside the main entrance where the wheelchairs were tucked away. He was watching Izumo half-job over to grab one when the main doors automatically slid open again and frustrated looking Iruka Umino walked in with a glare. Kakashi stood straight from his slouch.

"Izumo, I'm fine." Iruka ground out despite looking like a mess of blood and dust. His dress coat was gone and the blood stains from his own face had dripped down onto his white dress shirt. Even though he looked like a mess with his bruised lip and bloody nose, Kakashi couldn't help but be drawn to the rolled up sleeves and how his hair was still tightly tied back. It sort of felt comforting in an odd way and when Iruka noticed him, he felt both weaker and stronger. He felt like he was teetering on tears but the knot inside him loosened just a bit.

"Kakashi," Iruka stiffly moved to stand in front of him and Kakashi held Iruka's arm when a hand came out to touch his elbow. Iruka spoke in a hushed tone and met Kakashi's eyes in a way that almost had the man trembling. "He's strong."

Watching Kakashi avert his eyes and nod, Iruka reigned in the need to pull Kakashi in for a hug. He couldn't tell what the other man was thinking in that moment but he could tell that their usual playful banter wasn't what Kakashi needed to hear.

"I've got the paperwork," Izumo was already filling out the essential information on the clipboard the got from the nurse's station. Iruka gave Kakashi's elbow a squeeze before turning to Izumo and snatching the clipboard as he stepped over to press his back against the wall next to Kakashi, head bent over the paperwork.

With a hint of curiosity, Kakashi couldn't help but watch out of the corner of his eye as the section on injuries was filled out.

"Mr. Hatake," a small nurse poked her head into the waiting room and Kakashi pushed off the wall. When Kakashi started to walk off, Iruka called after him.

"Kakashi. You've got my number, right?"

"Hmm?" He stopped in his tracks and looked back, pulling out his phone. "Uh, I think I do.. Starts with 03?"

Iruka reached for the phone and was putting in a number Kakashi hadn't seen before; a personal number. Handing it back, Iruka gave a small, promising smile. "Just in case."

Kakashi nodded.

* * *

"Hey, Asuma," Kurenai set down her cup of coffee and reached her hand out for her husband, tugging him closer and setting his hand down on her belly with a small grin. "Feel that?"

"Whoa," Asuma's breath caught and he slid his arms around her. "First kicks."

She was chuckling and holding astonished tears when her smile faded. She leaned into the screen. Asuma frowned, "what do you see?"

"There," she tapped the screen on the enhanced image of a shoulder; more specifically on a small white sphere that was stuck to it. Kurenai tapped through the next few frames of video just before the blast and they watched as it moved slowly higher onto the shoulder until it burst into the white flash of the explosion.

"What is that thing?"


	3. Asuma

"So, we have to expect more than just this attack. We were ready for the last one since it was a big event and it was obvious something would happen. The last one was presumably just a test; a warning. We have to expect more attacks. They will come from anytime and anywhere since there are no big events coming up. While we leave the investigation to the professionals, we as a police force have to remain calm, collected and ready for action. While we cannot forget the casualties of last time or prevent sudden deaths, we must honor their memory and try to keep this city as safe as possible. I thank you all for your cooperation and understanding. I also want to thank each and everyone of you for everything you do for this department no matter how small or big." Iruka nodded to his men and everyone stood from their seats in the briefing room with grim expressions. Taking in a deep breath, the commissioner followed them out and patted the few on the back that came to talk to him.

Once he was free to hide inside his office, it became apparent that the luxury of being alone was not going to grace him today at the sight of someone waiting in his office. His shoulders tensed. Steeling himself for what he expected to be a lecture from the major, he sighed in relief at the sight of a tall man with a shock of silver hair who turned from the window to smile at him. "Kakashi."

"Iruka," the smile was charming and Iruka felt a bit of relief at seeing some semblance of normalcy in the other man. Albeit looking tired and drained in his business casual, it was good to see him out of the hospital; Iruka had heard that Kakashi hadn't left Obito's room. "Hope I'm not intruding."

"Not at all," Iruka wanted to shake his hand but there was too much distance between them and instead he sat in his desk chair, Kakashi sitting opposite him. "How is…"

"Um," when Kakashi's face turned to stone, Iruka bit his lip and watched the other man sigh. "Still nothing. The doctor's say that it might be permanent and that I should contact his family to sign a DNR."

"I'm sorry; that's probably not why you came here." Iruka shifted in his seat and Kakashi gave him a quirk of his lips.

"I appreciate the concern." The dark circles under Kakashi's eyes made Iruka worry about the other man's sleeping but Kakashi sat up straight and cut his gaze. "I'm actually here for business reasons."

"Go on," Interested, Iruka got comfortable, pulling a leg up to his other knee.

"I want to help as much as I can with the case. Which is why I want to know if giving you access and surveillance to all the buildings in the Hatake Inc Konoha database will help."

Dumbfounded, Iruka had to snap his jaw shut and sucked in a big breath as he scanned Kakashi's stone cold face to make sure it wasn't just a joke. Kakashi had his business face on; hard eyes and stiff shoulders. "Kakashi..."

"There is a clause in each of the contracts that we sign which permits the creation of a master key for the sole purpose of cooperation with authorities if certain provisions are met. The first provision is if Hatake Inc ever comes under investigation from the federal government. The second is if terrorist actions are committed under Hatake surveillance." Iruka was talked into silence and was struggling with something that Kakashi couldn't put his finger on.

"This isn't a good idea." Was the first thing Iruka said after his long silence.

"But it will help."

"This is going to put a target on your back, Hatake." The use of his last name ground on Kakashi's nerves and he leaned in.

"Iruka, I am the ceo of a surveillance company. I've always had a target on my back."

"Kakashi." Iruka's eyes snapped to him with a frown, head tilting to the side as he gripped the arms of his chair. "I worry about you as it is."

Hanging his head, Kakashi stared at his hands before grabbing the folder on the seat next to him and standing as he dropped it onto Iruka's desk. "Let me do this."

Heaving a pained sigh, Iruka pressed his face into a hand as the other reached for his glasses and slid them on to read the file.

"Do I have your accord?" Kakashi pressed and Iruka bit his lip, looking at Kakashi in frustration from under his thick, black-rimmed glasses. He was backed up against a wall; torn between his work side feeling relieved and the panicking of his personal side.

"Are you going to let me read this thing or not?"

"Come to dinner with me."

"What?" Iruka froze.

"We both need a break so I'm taking you out to dinner." Kakashi was already halfway to the door when Iruka stood and slapped the files on his desk to put his hands on his hips.

"Are you going to at least tell me where?" He looked back to see Iruka biting his lip with his cheeks dusted pink and he glanced down at his shoes briefly with a smile.

"I know a little place near the port." At that, Iruka scoffed. "I've got your number now."

"Let me guess, you'll text me about five minutes before and show up half an hour late."

The mysterious smirk on Kakashi's face gave Iruka shivers. "I can't be late if I'm the one picking you up."

The blush on Iruka's face grew and he looked away in half embarrassment. "I can get to places on my own."

"Kind of hard without a car of your own. You know, one that doesn't have flashing lights on it." Kakashi winked and threw a wave over his shoulder and he slipped out, leaving Iruka to drop back into his seat drained from the flip flop of emotions.

* * *

Yamato was scanning something on his laptop when he heard a knock at his door. Standing and opening it quickly, Iruka strode in looking like there was a storm cloud over his head.

"I have a little gift from a very generous donor, detective."

"Really?" Yamato couldn't help but chuckle and sit back into his seat with Iruka doing the same across from him. He discreetly closed the tab of the gossip article he'd been reading before setting the computer aside to see the chief properly. "What kind of gift?"

"How about access to all the security cameras under Hatake surveillance?"

Iruka watched as Yamato's eyes went wide with surprise and he gave a strained smile and nod.

"What?" The detective was beyond speechless. In all his years of undercover and investigative work, he had never heard of such cooperation before and was frankly blown away. For a brief moment, he felt a small speck of frustration when remembered all the times he'd gone begging to Hatake's people for cooperation with passed investigations only to be flat turned down. He decided to push away the frustration and feel proud of the cunning commissioner that he was working for. Sifting through the file he'd been handed, Yamato couldn't help but say, "this is amazing, Umino. How did you manage to get this kind of clearance?"

"He gave it to me."

"But how did you get him to do that? He's always been-"

"I didn't… I," Iruka cut him off with a stutter. "I didn't make him do anything. I haven't even talked to him about this at all. He showed up this morning and gave it to me without a care in the world."

"What?" He was slack again and Iruka sighed, looking like he was stewing in dark thoughts.

"I don't know what he wants to get out of this. I checked the whole agreement three times and even ran it by Genma over at the courthouse before I came to see you. It's solid; no loopholes or fine print whatsoever." As he listened to the other man worry, Yamato flipped through the agreement that seemed as innocent as his grandmother.

"So… What do you think he has to gain from this?" Yamato asked.

"I… I don't know." Iruka was bent over, elbows on his knees and looking quite confused. "I don't know if he's looking for a favour or…"

"You think he's doing this just to get to you?" The detective wouldn't put it passed him, he knew that Kakashi wasn't the kind of man to just give things away for free.

"He wants to meet with me on Friday." Yamato studied Iruka while the other man explained, "he's picking me up and driving me to the port so if I end up dead, please go check there first."

"So… You think that he's going to pick you up just to kill you and throw your body in the river?" Putting two and two together, Yamato couldn't help but glance over at his laptop with the urge to open it back up. "Even though he gave your department explicit permission to all his assets."

With a frustrated sigh, Iruka whined and slumped back into his seat, running his hands over his face. "I don't know. I don't know. He… Might be taking me out to a restaurant or something but I don't know what he wants from all of this."

"Hmm," Yamato hummed to himself and pulled out a sticky note, writing down his contact info. "I don't know either but tell him to give me call so we can set something up soon. He always seems to loose my contact information when I give it to him."

Taking the note that was handed to him, Iruka frowned. "You're not worried about me at all, are you?"

Looking up, the detective shrugged and watched Iruka stand and start to walk out, "I don't think he's going to kill you. In fact, I think he might do the complete opposite."

Frowning, Iruka looked back in confusion but decided against arguing when he saw Yamato engrossed in his laptop again. After he heard his office door shut quietly, Yamato snapped his eyes up to watch his temporary boss rounded the corner, pulling up the tab he'd closed before and reading the latest gossip that was milling around the tabloids these days; summer fling, the chief of police secretly dating eligible bachelor Kakashi Hatake?!

* * *

"If you're not buying, get out," the burly man at the door uncrossed his arms as the small hooded figure refused to move from his gaze. "I'm not going to tell you again, kid."

"I'm buying." A faint voice muttered from under the hood finally. The doorman made a motion.

"Arms up." The small figure complied to the pat down and waited for the bouncer to mumble a word to someone beyond the front door. A few seconds later and the front door was opened, letting the hood move inside from the night air of the city into the drank fog.

Body were pressed up against each other, dancing and grinding to the thumping bass of electronic music. Lights flashed multicolor through the haze of vape smoke and the whole dance stage smells like caramel, covering the underlying scent of grass.

Pushing through the crowd, he quickly stepped down from the dancefloor and into the lounge area beyond the dancing to search for the man he was supposed to meet. He stood there, scanning for a short moment before he found the other hooded figure he was searching for sitting at the bar with a clear drink. After a moment of hesitation, he stalked forward and sat at the bar.

"Hmm?" Their eyes met and the taller of the two pulled out of his hunch to study. "Aren't you a little young to be in this part of town?"

"If that were true, then I wouldn't be allowed within a hundred miles of this city." Was the quip back. "I need information."

"I don't do things for free, kid."

"Take is as a favour then and do whatever you want." There was a moment of the older man ignoring the small hooded figure until the clarification made hair on the back of his neck stand on end. "I can kill."

His collar was grabbed and the kid met his eyes as the older man tugged him in close to whisper menacingly against the loud music. "You're from the asylum aren't you? You're going to find yourself in the back of an alley if you don't shut up, kid."

"You need me." The voice coming from the dark hood was calm and collected. "I can do things that you can't. You and I want the same thing; his death. Get me the details and I'll do it."

Like a cornered animal, they both were still until the collar was let go and they stayed silent.

"You have the connections, Cat."

"Who are you?" Black eyes tried to decipher who was under that hood.

"I'm nobody; just the person you need."

The kid stepped off the stool and melded into the bodies of people as the Cat watched him go, having a dark feeling that this newcomer was going to shake up the balance more than anyone else could.

In this new hoodie that had yet to have cat ears sewn on, the man hummed and held a hand up, "hit me."

* * *

"Someone's out to kill you." The Cat muttered as he tapped the glass of the giant aquarium. He looked over his shoulder at the dark-haired man on the crimson couch by the fireplace, sipping from a delicate teacup.

"What else is new?" Itachi smirked and looked over his shoulder at the Cat who had suddenly appeared in his main foyer. "Thank you for the tip although I doubt I could give you much for that information."

"Of course," with a small step to the side, the Cat grinned and said slyly. "I've got much more interesting news."

"Oh, do tell," Itachi was still smiling but there was now a glimmer of interest in his eye and the Cat knew that he was in the clear.

"Depends on what information you have to give back."

"A name. A very specific one; one of high interest at the moment. And you?"

"Something that might help you with your family troubles."

Itachi was nodding and he said as he stood, heading to the bathroom, "deal."

The Cat swallowed the knot in his throat and slunk over to the couch, feeling his stomach churn with the thought of all that new and juicy information that he would soon be sitting on; the name of the man who would soon be thrown into jail.

Sitting down where Itachi had been previously sitting, he switched out the sd card for the one he'd been hiding in his sleeve. Soon enough, the Uchiha came back and sat right next to him, a warm hand smoothing over the Cat's thigh and making him jump.

"I'd like to thank you for you time, Black Cat." Itachi was just about to slid his hand higher when the body next to him vanished. He turned his gaze back to find the Cat crouching on the back of the sofa, smirking.

"Another time, Itachi." The Cat patted his head before slinking out with a swing in his step.

* * *

"Asuma," the whine he heard from the bedroom made him pause on one foot, unsure that he'd actually heard Kurenai's voice until she called for him a bit louder. Stepping from the doorway in his uniform and boots, Asuma quickly moved to his wife's side of the bed and kissed her forehead.

"Hey, how you feeling?" She'd been sick since the night before from first trimester nausea and he felt more guilty than tired from the little amount of sleep he got. She had probably worried herself sick the last few nights after the attack and he knew that when she was alone on her days off, she would pace around in boredom and worry.

"Could you go and get me some fruit?"

He was going to be late for work.

Half an hour later, he discreetly chewed the nicotine gum he'd regimented himself to and was heading to Umino's office on the tenth floor of their department building when he was stopped in the lobby.

"Captain Sarutobi!" Asuma turned to see a man he'd never seen before with short brown hair and a very forgettable face. Looking at the hand that was stretched out to him, Asuma took it cautiously. "It's good to finally meet you, I am detective Yamato from the Wind district. I was assigned to the recent investigation by commissioner Umino."

"Nice to meet you," he said politely with a curt nod. "You're going to have to be a bit more specific when you say investigation. Sadly, this city has way too many of those."

"Ah, the most recent; the bombing."

Asuma hummed and studied the other man closely, seeing a very stern face and calm stature that was very familiar. This man must have seen a lot of work. "Welcome aboard."

"Thank you, I was hoping that I could talk to you in my office. I have some very important things I want to go over."

Feeling his exhaustion of the passed few days creep over him, Asuma sighed and glanced at the elevator.

"Is it on the third floor?"

"Huh? Uh, yes, it is."

With a sigh, Asuma gathered himself and nodded, "let's get started then."

Moving away from the elevator doors, they followed the small line of people begrudgingly trudging up the stairs to the second and third floors. Finally on the third floor, Yamato looked over to the flushed man behind him and asked, "how long have the second or third floor buttons been out of order for?"

"Five years." At Yamato's confused face, Asuma continued. "They stopped working for people without handicap keys. One of the investigations that have yet to be closed mainly because Iruka will never admit that he did it."

"Huh," Yamato unlocked his office doors and set himself up while Asuma studied the traffic outside his window, noting that it faced the quieter side of their corner instead of the busy one. "I never pegged him to be the hateful type."

"He used to have his office on the third floor actually; just down the hall." Asuma chewed on his gum hard and wished he had a glass of water but turned his attention back to the man who had pulled out his laptop and was turning it towards him.

"This is Sasori. Convicted murderer and diagnosed psychopath, known for the skinning of his victims. Got an anonymous tip last night that he was somehow involved in all this mess; he was apparently seen outside the party about half an hour before the explosion." A small and skinny face appeared on screen with a shock of red hair and dead eyes, making Asuma frown.

"Isn't he supposed to be locked up at Gedo?" He murmured and Yamato shook his head.

"That's what the initial reports were saying until they finally checked his cell and found him gone. He used to be partnered with a man called Deidara who was apparently an expert at explosions who blew himself up. I suspect that he didn't actually die and they've paired up again after Sasori got out."

Asuma's frown deeped. "So now we have to worry about Orochimaru, Sasori, Deidara and those other two loonies that got out."

"Mhm," Yamato nodded. "Kisame and Zetsu."

"What do you have in mind, detective?"

"I was hoping I could use your manpower to hold a stakeout at the locations I'd received by my anonymous source." Pulling over his laptop and typing in a few keys, he brought up a map with four locations pined in red and went over each location. "The Kanto bank on fifth, the Noh theatre and a small restaurant called the Pigeon."

"Those are pretty spread out." Asuma hovered closer to the screen and pointed to the Pigeon's location on the east side of the city. "That place is well known for being shady but these other places seem more like targets."

"I was thinking we could post a few stakeouts in the buildings overlooking them. The Noh theatre only has one performance on Thursday at 6:30 which would be the prime time for another attack. The bank might be a bit trickier since the tellers are open the early morning until late at night except on weekends when they close earlier." Yamato was pulling out a pad of empty weekly calendars and ripping off a few sheets to highlight the timeslots when the bank was open. "Our best bet, if we're expecting another explosive attack, would be to post a lookout in the hotel across the street for the next few days."

Asuma was standing and pacing in thought, chewing on his gum as he thought out loud, "the theatre will be easy to cover and, if we can get clearance to the security cameras of the bank, then we've got those two covered."

"I should have surveillance inside the bank by Friday." Yamato said quickly to Asuma's surprise and the bearded man nodded.

"Good. Until then, we should have someone staking out in the hotel across the street for the next few nights. As for Pigeon, I think I can get some undercover help from an outside source." At those words, Yamato looked up at Asuma and nodded at the look he was given, having a pretty good idea at which 'undercover help' he was talking about.

"I'll see who is on duty tonight and see if we can get some guys to switch their shifts around." With his hands in his pockets, Asuma strode out.

"Thank you, sir." Yamato called out after him.

* * *

The rest of the day for Asuma was spend rescheduling officers and contacting their two stations to see if anyone wanted to volunteer for some overtime with little luck. It was only that night that he got a call from an old friend who was used to night shifts and met with him to go over what the department was looking for. With the officer reassigned, Asuma got a call late that night with confirmation that everything was set and ready to roll for their first night of surveillance and he went home feeling accomplished.

The next morning, Asuma awoke to the Thursday sun peeking through the curtains directly into his eyes and he groaned as his alarm went off. That morning, he had a bowl of fruit slices and a cup of tea ready for when Kurenai would stumble out of the bathroom.

They drove together this morning to the office, Kurenai feeling much better albeit looking a little pale but they went their separate ways regardless. In his office, Asuma spent the first few hours of work sifting through all the reports relating to the Pigeon and the Kanto bank before dropping them off by Yamato's office before getting a call about a 10-38 on the highway; a suspicious vehicle that turned out to be bust.

Finally, the evening started to creep in and the real work started. The undercover car that Asuma had reserved for the night was ready and waiting for him in the garage and he headed out into the city, dressed in his business casual for the Pigeon and parking the car around the block. From the glove compartment, he pulled out a nondescript smartphone and held the power button down until the screen gradually lit up with a small insignia before falling back to black, slipping it back inside the glove compartment.

The wait that followed had Asuma pulling out his own phone and keeping his mind busy. He'd been looking at the houses he and Kurenai had checked out a few weeks before. They were all either too small or too big; no bedroom for the baby but close to downtown or too many bedrooms but further out in the suburbs. There was a nice bungalow they had yet to check out that was near the bridge that led into downtown Konoha from the western suburbs but the price was a little too steep for their wallet at the moment even with all the savings they had tucked away.

"I like that one," came a soft whisper from the backseat that made Asuma flinch and glare at the masked man who was sitting quietly in the back. The blank and pearly white mask that stared back at him was unsettling but he'd seen the mask enough times to simply feel cautious.

Putting away his phone, Asuma looked away from the sleek black ridges of carbon fiber armour to glance around the street. He said in a low tone, "we need your help; your connections."

"I'm listening," was the whisper of a response he got and he felt less anxious.

"We need proof that the bombing was committed by a man named Deidara; expert in explosions. One of the escapees from Gedo was named Sasori; his partner in crime before Deidara supposedly killed himself. We suspect they teamed up again and are planning more attacks. The Pigeon was a tip we got from an anonymous source."

"Hmph," the voice behind him seemed to scoff a laugh and Asuma looked at the hooded figure in the black through his rearview mirror. "So, you want me to use my connections to find evidence?"

There was a knock at the door to Scarecrow's left that made both of the men in the car snap their heads to see a smug looking Cat peering in at them. Opening the door, the Cat slid in and shut it behind him. He slid up to the stoic Scarecrow and threw his arms to the back of the seat as he crossed his legs, getting settled in as he slyly asked, "start the party without me?"

"We were just talking about you." Asuma smirked at the pointed ears on the Cat's hood and the cock of his head.

"Oh yeah, eh?" Unlike the Scarecrow, the Cat was a loose canon and even though there were people in the department that thought they had no need for these vigilantes, Asuma could see the worth in having masks do their dirty work even if they were either too quiet or too talkative.

"Bet the commissioner just loves it when you come to see us," as he stretched out the word 'love' in a teasing manner, the Cat made a grin that grated on Asuma's nerves but he chuckled it off. They all knew how much the commissioner hated the masks in this city but everyone couldn't deny how much they helped. Asuma knew that Umino had their phone and heard the conversations but had ignored them both. He had even brought up the topic of their masked vigilantes one night over paperwork. The commissioner had given him a frustrated look and told him that they were a curse on the city but if they were able to cooperate then they could be overlooked.

"We should get going then, shall we?" The Scarecrow looked towards the man next to him who looked at him curiously.

"If you say so," they both slipped out and walked off, Asuma watching as they sauntered around the corner together. They would have looked like two guys simply walking down the street if it hadn't been for Cat's ears and the heavy belt of gadgets and tools that held the Scarecrow's cloak close to his body.

"Have you ever heard of Itachi?"

"Hmm?" The Cat looked over at the hooded man next to him and shrugged. "Maybe."

He got a knowing look from behind the Scarecrow's mask and grinned back. There wasn't much room for lies between the two since the Cat knew almost everyone in town and the Scarecrow didn't look like he had time to play cat and mouse tonight. The Cat looked over at the Pigeon and said with a leer, "I can't give out the details of our relationship but yes I do. Jealous?"

The Scarecrow grunted which made the Cat frown and elbow the other man in the side. "Hey, come on. Get your head in the game, big guy."

"Whatever you say, shorty," the Cat could tell that Scarecrow was smirking and he couldn't help but flush and smile, feeling relieved at the normal banter. "Let's go put the kick ass in team."


	4. Kakashi

After climbing through the window of the fourth floor, the duo made their way to the elevator and took it down to the basement where the Pigeon was quietly located. It was a bar known for being a middle ground between places. It was neither filled with cops or robbers so people of all walks of life tended to mingle here; people who had no place in either walks of life.

In the elevator, Kakashi couldn't help but notice the small strings sticking out from the Cat's hood and he mentally noted down how it looked like the ear of the hood had been sewn on haphazardly. "New hood?"

"Hm?" The Cat glanced at him and touched a gloved hand to the hood as he said, "unfortunately, nine-tails claws are not delicate with clothing."

"Ahn," he couldn't help but reach out and flick at one of them to the distaste of the shorter man who twitched away from the touch and elbowed him in the side again. He fake doubled over to get just within range of the Cat's hip.

"Oh shit, I'm sor-AH!" A clawed hand tickled over his side and the Cat squirmed away, pressing himself to the back of the elevator in shock.

The elevator opened to a Scarecrow flying out from a punch and backflipping into a perfect three point landing and glancing over her shoulder at the Cat that sauntered out and started making his way passed Kakashi down the hall, ignoring the muffled whine, "so you can touch me but I can't touch you?"

"I don't think the Scarecrow and the Cat would cause much ruckus if they walked in here together," the Cat mused and Kakashi walked over to where the other man was listening at the door that led into the kitchen of the Pigeon.

Kakashi had only been in the Pigeon a handful of times as the Scarecrow and even lesser times as himself but felt that they could enter and exit with as little waves as possible. He pushed the door open and a sigh followed him as the two swiftly stole their way through a surprisingly empty kitchen that was dimly lit with bluish-green light with only two cooks; one busying himself at the grill while another could be heard laughing at show in a break room. They skirted through without alerting either of the cooks and slipped into the main room of the Pigeon.

To their right, the dark oak bar was being kept by an old man in his seventies who was pouring beer from one of the taps to a man at the bar. In the dim light of the stained glass pendant lights, there were tables dispersed throughout the main room and a pool table was tucked away towards the back. The few people who were actually drinking were either watching a poker match on the monitor above the bar or talking amongst themselves and playing cards. He could smell cigarettes and wood.

Beside him, Cat was already peeking around before he headed in the direction of the bar with Kakashi following closely and sitting down next to him. The Cat looked at him as he was sitting and he could hear the mumble about paying for his drink as Kakashi kept his gaze in the corner of his eyes at the bartender. After a moment, the Cat said, "you seem like a whiskey kind of guy. Do you ever get whiskey dick?"

Which Kakashi shrugged at. "I don't know. I don't usually remember when I sleep with people. I'm more of a liquor kind of guy anyway."

The bartender was slowly making his way down the bar to them, sliding a fruity looking shot the Cat's way as he went.

"What'll it be, newcomer?" His voice was scarred from years of smoking and he had a stern face but there was an air of understanding to him. It was nice to meet someone in this city who wasn't analysing him all the time and Kakashi gratefully drank it in.

"Gin and tonic."

"No problem."

Hand sliding as he went, the graying bartender strode away from them and Cat looked at him with interest before shooting back his drink with a sour face and a shiver.

"Gyuhhh, I hate these things."

"So when's he going to talk?"

The look the Cat gave him was strained but Kakashi shrugged, "I'm not busy but I do expect to get somewhere tonight."

"This is why you could never do what I do, strawman." The Cat shook his head. "You have to work your way into their circles and take your time. If you rush into things then you could create a situation and draw attention to yourself."

"I take my time with people," he paused and let his thoughts drift to other situations that were completely different from this one before pulling himself back, "sometimes I think I'm too slow."

"Hmm?" The Cat palmed his cheek and grinned, "give me the all the details. Is it about a girl?"

He couldn't help but scratch the back of his head when he realized who he was talking to. This was the Cat: a man who knew everything about anyone and a legend at keeping secrets. He felt a bit more at ease saying, "let's just say that I've been trying to see someone for the better part of half a decade."

"Oh?" There was much interest looking his way.

"Well… I think I've been so slow in growing our friendship for something more that they don't even notice I'm there except for work." Cat watched as he murmured this to himself; the keen grin turning into one of true interest and thought.

"Seems like a predicament."

"Mhm."

"I wouldn't say be bold since they'd probably think that you're being desperate but you should probably make a move, yknow? Or be forever stuck in as friends." Cat was musing and Kakashi couldn't help but feel a genuine sense of camaraderie for the other man; just two people in masks talking. "Or they might already like you after all that time you've spent together and they might be trying to find a way to move closer too."

Kakashi looked at the other man's pensive face just as his drink came to sit in front of him, half startling him. He looked up at the bartender and smiled despite the mask. "Thank you."

"There have been a lot of new people around these last few days," they were both immediately alert as the old man started speaking. "Just the other day, there was a man coming in and looking for you, Cat. Another one of those Uchihas; not Itachi but someone else."

Cat looked confused before it melted away into horror.

"Someone else?" Kakashi was just as confused but knew that the Uchihas were a very powerful family and had even more connections than Cat did and everyone knew that they were dangerous both when it came to business and family.

Itachi Uchiha was the overlord of the gambling scene and knew exactly how to fix the slots. He was a force to never forget and he had wormed his way into the deepest roots of the city from produce to power to the banks in the chaos before the city had started getting clean again. He had congressmen and everyone at City Hall wrapped around his pinky finger. Another Uchiha meant more power and that things were going to take a nosedive.

"An Uchiha." Kakashi nudged the Cat next to him and slid out a large bill on the bar as they quickly slid back out the way they came, the cook looking up at them but not saying a word as they left.

The elevator up was silent and they had just hopped over to the next roof when Kakashi stopped and they both paused.

"This could mean anything." Cat was muttering and Kakashi hummed.

"Whatever is it, it isn't good. We'll have to keep our eyes peeled."

"I have to talk to him." Kakashi snapped his head to the other man and grabbed his arm quickly.

"If you're thinking of going to see Itachi, you must be out of your mind. We have no idea what they have planned."

Ripping his arm out of Kakashi's hand, the Cat backed away. "He's been nothing but cooperative. He's helped even more then you have."

"Which is why we need to lay low." The tension finally softened around them and he continued on, "until we know what's going on."

The Cat's hands clenched and softened before he sighed, turning away from Kakashi and crossing his arms. "Itachi is the double agent. We have to at least keep an eye on him. He's been running this city for years. Don't you find it a little suspicious that he starts cooperating just as we hear news about his other Uchiha?"

"You're right. It's more than suspicious." He stepped up the other man, looking out into the streets below just as Cat was before looking over. "So you got the info to officer Sarutobi?"

"Hmm?" Black eyes snapped up to his and Kakashi watched as they became distant. "Sort of."

"Why?" Kakashi knew that Cat wasn't going to be getting any recognition, pleasure or wealth by being an informant. In any other situations, he usually held information for ransom even with the police as long as their was something for him to gain. This was a dangerous line that the Cat never dabbled with when it came to intelligence; he usually broke in instead of using the backdoor.

"Doesn't feel like money is the only thing at stake here," was the musing response that the Cat gave before walking off the building ledge behind Kakashi and into the darkness of the alley below.

For a few seconds, Kakashi stayed up on the roof and thought.

"A new Uchiha." He mused, thinking of Obito and the whole disastrous line. He knew only of a few other Uchihas; what he'd gathered from years of being around Obito and what he knew was unsettling.

They were all heads of big corporations and cutthroat, dealing with all kinds of business. From government to illegals, the Uchiha had a hand in every possible way to make money. Thankfully, he had never crossed paths with one yet even as his father's company was expanding internationally. If his company ever fell under the eyes of another branch of Uchiha, he feared that it would be very easily swept up into their hands.

There was one Uchiha that was infamous for his 'work' and Kakashi felt a shiver run up his spine. Presumed dead by feds a few states over, Madara had not been one to ever do business with unless you wanted to find yourself dead. A sense of dread swept over him and he really hoped that the creeping sensation in the back of his mind was just a false alarm.

* * *

"I gave you all the info you needed," the voice from the other side of the room whimpered out as the man at the window fixed his glove. "Now let them go."

"I'm so sorry, but it seems like your job hasn't yet finished." The man at the window studied the last slow string of people leaving the theatre below before turning to the man who was tied to the hotel chair. "You still have a lot of work to do for us and this time, we expect no funny business."

Flipping out a switchblade, the other man started stalking over and Hayate shivered deeply as the deep, growling voice said, "but first we have to renegotiate that contract of ours since your little stunt tonight cost us a target."

The window suddenly shattered as bullets flew into the room. Hayate knocked himself over onto the floor just in time for a bullet to whiz past his head but the other man was not as lucky.

One hit his shoulder and he cried out in surprise while another hit his side. Spinning around and throwing himself over the bed, he ducked down as another spray rang through the hotel room. He just barely was able to crawl to the front door and open it only to find himself staring down the barrel of another dozen guns.

As the officers shouted for him to raise his arms, the man silently complied, raising his arms slowly. The officers did not notice the glance towards that the man gave to his watch but they did see the smile that slowly crept onto his face right before the building exploded.

* * *

Kakashi woke up the next morning surrounded by papers and his laptop flopped next to him like a one night stand that hadm't left yet. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and trudged to his ensuite and found that he was still in the wrinkled dress clothes from the day before.

With a groan, he turned on the shower and shrugged off the shirt to step inside. While letting the cold water wake him up, his mind went through a loop of names and faces. He had spent all night looking up the family history of his butler and attempting to find people who had connections to Konoha in any way. His sneaky mind was hoping that he could convince the person at the police department who would be accessing his network to leak a bit of information his way. The only bit of information he got from the Cat the night before had been a few names and he had already managed to pull every bit of information he could find on the web. The biggest lead he found had been attached to the Uchiha name and an incident a few cities over; a fire where only two survived. There were so many leads that he had to take a step back.

There hadn't been a case like this for years. For the passed few months, the Scarecrow had barely been seen around the city and Kakashi had felt like he'd been on vacation from the vigilante life for a while. It gave him time to focus on the company and expand. Now, he felt like he was going to be juggling his two personas for a bit.

Out of the shower and drying off, he noticed the green notification light going off on his phone and he opened it to find a reminder from his calendar. Eyes going wide, he quickly unlocked his phone and snapped to his contacts page. He only had to flick his thumb once before he found Iruka's and he hovered over the call button nervously.

He had almost completely forgotten about their date.

Well, it wasn't contractually a date but he he hoped that Iruka had taken it as such. He'd been so busy the last few days that he had almost completely forgotten even though it was going to be one of the most anticipated nights of his life. At least, he felt like it was.

He had yet to give Iruka a time despite having everything planned in his head and he decided against calling when he saw the time; it was seven in the morning and he didn't know if Iruka was in their morning briefing yet or not.

He texted instead

Ready for tonight?

He had almost put a winky face but had mulled over it for a good minute before deciding that they weren't on that level of friendship-text yet. It dawned on him that even if he was an active contributor to the city and often attended the same events and party that Iruka did, he hadn't gotten Iruka's number until last weekend. It was both disheartening that it had taken so long but thrilling that he was finally getting a chance. The fact that he was always so playfully flirty with Iruka was probably a deterrent. He guessed that being real with Iruka had its perks.

While his mind was swimming in reflection, he almost didn't notice that his phone started ringing and he jumped up, immediately answering it with a quick, "hello?"

"Hey, Kakashi." It was Iruka and the was the sound of a police car's siren in the distance signaling that he was in the department building. His heart skipped a beat.

"Hey, Iruka, how's it going?"

"Um, not so great actually," the phone went quiet for a second as Iruka took a breath. "I mean, it's a little complicated. There was another explosion and it seems like I'm going to be a bit busy today and…"

There was a sense of dread in the pit of his stomach and Kakashi cut in as playfully as he could, "mah, don't worry. I can take a hint."

"No, Kakashi. I…" After a frustrated sigh, Iruka struggled for a second. "I don't want to cancel, I just… I don't know what time would be a good time today since… People died, Kakashi. Not just civilians this time."

"I understand. Don't worry about it. If you really want to, just let me know what time is good for you and I'll pick you up." He was smiling softly.

"Awesome, I'll try and let you know as soon as I can."

"Take it easy, Iruka." He said softly and heard a chuckle on the other end.

"You too, Kakashi."

Hearing his first name from Iruka made him shiver and he found himself smiling long after they'd hung up. As he was pulling tighter his tie, he heard the sound of his apartment buzzer going off and he went to the front door monitor with no suspicion at all that Itachi Uchiha would be standing there.

After a tense wait at his front door, a knock sounded and he opened the door to the businessman who gave him a slick smile. "Hello, Mr Hatake."

"Itachi," Kakashi pulled the door open wider for the younger man to step inside his penthouse apartment. "Would you like some tea?"

"I'm afraid I don't have time for tea this morning but the offer does not go unappreciated." Kakashi was closing the door with a lock after seeing that there was no bodyguard to follow and he gestured to his living room couch but Itachi held up a hand as he looked up at Kakashi with a very grim face. "Would you happen to have somewhere a little more… Private?"

Glancing at the glass windows that overlooked the city, Kakashi nodded and strode down his the hall to the left with Itachi following closely behind. Once inside the bookcase-covered walls of Kakashi's study and the door was closed, Itachi turned to Kakashi and immediately stated, "I want to hire Hatake Inc as the new security for the Mangekyou."

"You've never had security at your casino before?"

"We have but they met very… Abrupt ends." Kakashi felt his throat close.

"I see. And why would Hatake be interested in providing security to a company that treats its security like a joke?" He felt defensive and was afraid of how Itachi would react. Thankfully, the other man smiled simply.

"It wouldn't be public that Hatake was taking on the Mangekyou. There are things that will happen in that building that even my closest friends and employees will not foresee." Kakashi felt a shiver coming on and watched as Itachi's eyes flashed red in the soft lighting above them and there was a sensation crawling up his spine that reminded him of the people at Gedo. Itachi's eyes said they knew something.

"I think that this secret partnership would benefit Hatake well and of course, it would benefit the police department."

Kakashi's hands grew cold and he immediately thought of the Cat and Asuma. The police probably had to give up that information for the intel Cat would trade from Itachi. It made his skin crawl. He was just about to speak up when Itachi spoke up again.

"Don't worry; no one else knows. This is why I want your company, Mr Hatake." After a pause, Itachi looked over at Kakashi's work desk and stepped closer to it and away from Kakashi. "There was an explosion in my private lounge yesterday and the wiring needs to be redone."

Feeling the pieces of the puzzle suddenly click, Kakashi nodded and slid his hands into his pockets. "I think we could get someone out there to take a look."

Itachi looked over his shoulder at Kakashi and smiled. "That would be very much appreciated."

With a breath, Itachi spun around and Kakashi opened the study door for him. Itachi's shoulders had visibly slackened and he smirked over his shoulder as he said, "tell commissioner Umino I say hi."

Kakashi strained to keep the smile on his face as he saw Itachi out and said politely after Itachi, "I will."

Once the door was closed, he stared at the front entrance monitor for the few minutes that followed until Itachi was seen stepping out and into a car waiting for him. Kakashi quickly pulled out his phone again.

"Hey, Gai? Change of plans. Get Kana to work on the Belgian agreement. I need you here."

* * *

Even though he had been running around all day and had his mind stuck on the Uchiha's, his hand would immediately snap to his phone whenever he felt it vibrate in his pocket. Thankfully, no one would question whenever he would peek at his phone because if they would ask, he would feel overwhelmed by the urge to be truthful and say that he was waiting for Iruka's call for their date… Meeting? He wasn't quite sure what it was but he knew that he had to ask that night just in case.

But Iruka was going to be busy. Kakashi had seen the news and what had happened. It was an undercover operation. They had been watching the theatre from the hotel across the street when they were notified about a mole in their unit and the mole was being met by their link to the people who were creating this mess. Their meeting was surrounded and when the link stepped out of the hotel room, the whole top floor blew up in flames.

Kakashi had been getting lunch at down the street from Hatake HQ when he saw Iruka talking to the press. He was so transfixed on the subtitled screen that he forgot to ask the cashier for more sauce and ended up eating a very dry sandwich.

After a few meetings and talking to Gai again about the situation, he finally felt his phone vibrate as he was pulling into a gas station.

"Hey, it's me. I mean, it's Iruka." The jingle of keys on the other side told Kakashi that Iruka was just getting home and he smirked to himself as he closed his car door. It was long after suppertime.

"Hello, Iruka. Had a busy day?"

After a fake laugh, Iruka retorted, "about as busy as you would expect. I just got home and was hoping that you wouldn't be too mad at me for calling back so late."

"I mean," Kakashi paid and held the nozzle into his car as he cheekily said, "would you let me punish you if I was?"

"Pfff." He could almost hear Iruka blushing on the other end through the admonishing tone. Iruka quickly said back, "You can try. I mean, what?"

There was a smirk on Kakashi's face and he quickly checked the time on his phone; long after ten. His first was out the door since Iruka had probably already gotten something to eat but thankfully his backup plan had just opened; no candlelight dinners for them.

"Text me your address. I'm getting gas but I'll be there in ten."

"Wait. What?" There was a loud thump and a swear before Iruka asked, "you're heading over now?"

"Yup, see you in ten, commissioner."

Iruka hung up with a bye before texting Kakashi his address and hurrying over to the bathroom with much care to his stubbed toe. In the mirror, he saw how haggard he looked and swore again when he realized he didn't have time to take a shower. Deciding to take it in stride, he emptied his bladder and switched the sink water to hot after washing his hands. As the water got hot, he untied his hair from its ponytail and brushed it back into a tight ponytail that at least looked decent. After washing his face with a cloth he ran under the water, shaving cream was slapped onto his face and he slowly shaved off the soft shadow that was creeping up his cheeks from the few days be had gone without a shave.

Once his face was smooth again, he took a moment to breathe. His fingers tingled. A night with just Kakashi. Usually, they were joined by Asuma or someone from city hall but this time was not going to be a business meeting. They weren't going to be negotiating contracts or scheduling updates to the system in the department building or even a donation from the Hatake Inc.

It made him both excited and suspicious. If it wasn't going to be an official meeting, what was Kakashi's goal? He couldn't help being suspicious after all the times people had tried to get under his skin but he wanted to believe that Kakashi wanted to just spend time together.

Squeezing the edges of the sink hard, he swept back into his bedroom and was shocked to find a car pulling up just in front of his small townhouse. It was even more surprising to see a long leg step out with Kakashi attached to it. He shrugged off his shoulder holster into a drawer before bolting back down the stairs.

While stepping up to the entrance of Iruka's home, Kakashi couldn't help admire how warm and cosy the neighbourhood was compared to the lonely apartment that he owned. There was a very tiny yard in the front with a thin, leafy tree growing from it's designated area in the sidewalk. A few doors down, he saw a wheelchair ramp leading up to another door and was thinking that it was very Iruka-like to live in a very quiet and elderly-friendly area.

His attention looked back up when he reached the front stoop and Iruka was already opening the door for him.

"You are amazingly early." Iruka was still in his work clothes but Kakashi wondered if there was ever a time in the past few years that he hadn't seen Iruka in work attire. "Usually, you keep most people waiting."

"Well, you're not exactly most people, commissioner." Kakashi said with a coy smirk that made Iruka give him a stern look.

"My name is Iruka, thank you very much," the comeback was strained and Kakashi could tell he had hit a chord. With a sigh, Iruka motioned for him to come in, "sorry, I've heard that way too much today. Come in, I'm just gonna grab a few things."

Iruka's home was small and very neat. After the entrance came the living room that was more of a sitting area and Kakashi sat himself down into one of the comfy armchairs as Iruka bolted up the set of steps by the entrance. Thinking that the chair he was sitting in was very comfy, Kakashi glanced around and noticed that everything he could see was very clean and tidy. While he didn't see Iruka being crazy for cleaning, he thought back to his own apartment. Maybe it was because Iruka was so busy that he didn't have the time to make a mess or sprawl out.

He looked over at the equally clean kitchen and wondered if Iruka's bedroom was just as clean.

"Okay," Iruka was stepping back down the stairs as he was tightening a watch around his wrist. "Let's go."

"Have you ever heard of a place called Joey's?" Kakashi asked as they were stepping out.

"No, is that where we're going?" Iruka locked his door before they stepped down to the car. Kakashi couldn't help but notice Iruka studying his car.

"Mhm," once inside, they pulled off into the street and started driving through the low traffic of evening Konoha. "It's not too far actually."

"Ah?" After a moment of silence and Iruka looking around the sleek but modest sedan, he couldn't help but ask. "So you own this car or do you like… Rent it?"

"I mean, yeah. I've had it for about a year now." Kakashi glanced over at him and Iruka tried to not look surprised but failed horribly. Kakashi scoffed with a smile. "You look really surprised."

"I'm not."

"You are."

"I really am. I imagined you driving a sports car and I honestly remember you having one a few years ago."

Kakashi couldn't help but smile as they waited for a light to change. It made him warm to know that Iruka remembered that far back. "I used to; you're not wrong about that. I had one a really long time ago. Like…"

"Four." Iruka guessed and Kakashi looked back at him in surprise this time; he was right. Iruka looked back with raised brows.

"How did you… Do you have an eidetic memory?"

"No, no. It's just- I- You had a crazy expensive car, okay? It's hard not to notice."

"So, you were paying attention to me, after all." There was a successful smirk on Kakashi's face and Iruka tried to look frustrated but a smile was tugging at his lips too.

"Yes, it was really hard since you were such a nondescript man who was unnoticable wherever we went." They both let out laughs as they pulled into the underground parking lot of a tall building that looked quite fancy. Iruka was too busy laughing to pay attention to which neighbourhood they were in but they pulled into a parking spot not too far down; right next to the elevator with a reserved sign.

In the elevator, Iruka couldn't help but ask cheekily, "are you taking me to work?"

"No, this is actually just where we're parking," they stepped out into the lobby and Kakashi continued as they stepped out into the old Konoha distract that Iruka knew of but had never really taken the time to go to on leisure. "I lied about going to the port, sorry."

Iruka looked up at Kakashi as they headed down the street, "I think I can forgive you."

Their eyes met and there were smiles all around as they made their way past small shops and chic restaurants with glass windows to show how good their food looked. It was cool out but there were still crowds of people that they passed. Finally, they stopped at a wall covered in graffiti and Kakashi pulled open a door that was almost hidden in the colourful wall.

Iruka stopped, Kakashi giving him a suave smile as he gestured Iruka inside. They had to step passed a wall of black velvet fabric before they could enter a black-painted room lit with blacklight LED strips; a ticket booth to the left and two purple velvet chairs on the right.

"Two?" The teenage girl at the booth asked when they approached and Iruka couldn't help but admire how the booth also acted as a coat check.

"Yes, please," Kakashi had already handed two bills to the clerk before Iruka could even touch his pocket (to his dismay). They were handed two glow in the dark bands to tape around their wrists and they passed through another curtain of velvet and into another equally dark room that made Iruka's jaw drop.

To their left was a bar and kitchen while to the right was the long glowing purple lanes of a bowling alley with a few dozen other people rolling their glowing bowling balls into the pins at the other end of the alley. It was like a grown-ups version of a bowling alley with the theme of glow in the dark and black lights. There were glowing stickers on the floor directing where washrooms were and the drinks they were serving at the bar all seemed to give off different glowing colours inside almost pitch black of the room. The middle space had extra seating other than the round tables at the starts of each bowling lane for people who just wanted food and drinks but beyond this room their was another room that had small flashing lights coming from it; an arcade by the looks of it.

"I have a friend in the company that told me about this place," Kakashi said into Iruka's ear over the loud 90s and early 2000s music. Looking over, Iruka noticed Kakashi's white shirt reflecting the glowing blacklight and he laughed.

"This place is amazing."

The smile on Iruka's face was priceless and Kakashi stepped out in front of him to nod to a table near the arcade entrance. "This is the only sport I'm actually good at."

"Is this considered a sport?" Iruka saw the shrug of a glowing purple shoulder and laughed, following over to the empty table and noticed the very high tech tables that doubled as screens to count player scores.

With a tap of the screen, the table lit up a bit brighter and they put in their names before choosing from the small selection of glowing bowling balls off to the side. After a few turns of experimentally rolling them down the alley, Iruka looked at Kakashi and asked, "so this is where you hang out when you're not hanging around the department?"

"This is my first time here to." Kakashi stepped up to the lane and lined his ball up with the pins before taking a swing; two pins left.

When he took a step back to wait for his ball to return, he couldn't help but ask, "so, why don't you drive?"

"I drive."

Arms folded from where Kakashi was standing and Iruka bit his lip at the skeptical look. "I haven't seen you drive in years."

"Well," Iruka watched as the alien green bowling ball Kakashi had chosen rolled back up and the other man was slowly heading over to pick it up while still paying attention. "I usually carpool with Asuma. Him and his wife live just a few streets down so…"

"Oh yeah?"

"Mhm, they sometimes invite me over for cards."

Kakashi was stepping up again to roll the ball away. It was a mediocre roll but it wasn't horrible so Kakashi clucked his tongue and sauntered back over. "Isn't she pregnant?"

There was a nod as Iruka went to take his turn, "yeah, she's due in… April? Maybe February."

"So she's taking maternity leave-"

"Yeah, after the baby's born instead of before." Iruka finished his sentence and Kakashi couldn't help but smile.

The rest of that round went smoothly with the two of them being neck in neck with points until the very end when Iruka grinned at him and started making funny poses. It was the growling of stomachs that made them stop their game short and look at each other.

Kakashi was the first to ask, "you didn't eat?"

"I was waiting to eat with you." Iruka didn't see the flush of heat to Kakashi's cheeks and instead hopped down the step from the alleys and into the land of tables where he loosened his tie. "Want something?"

"Uh," mind still feeling soft from the comment, Kakashi followed. "Yeah, um, just a slice of pizza or something."

With a wave of acknowledgement over his shoulder, the other man went to get them food and was back within a few minutes with a hot dog combo for himself and a few slice of pizza for Kakashi. There was barely any talk between the two as they wolfed down their food and listened to the music around them, bobbing their head to the beat of a Shaggy song.

"Did you even eat lunch?" Kakashi couldn't help but ask and Iruka paused midway through a fry.

"I don't know."

"Must have been really busy then." Iruka nodded at the remark and was pensive for a moment as Kakashi continued on. "I was surprised you even called."

"Asuma said he'd take over for me since there wasn't much I could do anyway. I already had a press conference, a load of meetings and a very long session with our detective."

"Mm, that's true, I need to talk to him about his access. I have a keycard already made and just need to meet up with him." He'd been thinking of giving of how to give Iruka's department access to his network and had decided that it would be best if he could just give the detective access to their main location and all the feeds within Konoha.

"Kakashi," his train of thought was cut off when Iruka said his name and he looked back at the other man who was sitting stiffly in his chair, brows furrowed. "You know I appreciate everything you've done for… Us. I really do but are you sure you still want to do this? You've done so much for us already and this could really put a target on your back. These terrorists are not playing around, Kakashi."

"I know."

"These people are so dangerous, Kakashi."

"You don't have to worry about us; Hatake is one of the most secure companies in the country."

"And I don't doubt that but I'm not worried about your company. With Obito in the hospital still, I'm worried about you." Iruka was staring right back at him intently and had curled his hands into fists. There were words on Kakashi's lips but they died slowly and he shifted in his seat. He couldn't help but glance away before looking back up and meeting Iruka's eyes with determination.

"I know the risks. You'll just have to trust me." There was a long, tense silence between the two of them as the bass boomed around them. After a sigh, Kakashi deflated, "I'm sorry. This wasn't supposed to be a business meeting."

"Ahn," even though Kakashi was no longer tense and had relaxed back into his seat, his companion was not. Iruka was struggling with something inside himself. He had to ask. "So, what… Was this supposed to be?"

He looked up with wide eyes at the other man who was stunned into a statue again. There hadn't been an explicit agreement that this was a date or just a get together between friends. While Kakashi had been a good friend to him, Iruka had the feeling that Kakashi hadn't been implying that this was just a friendly hangout. A small part of himself was hoping it wasn't one either and thankful that it wasn't a 'business meeting' but the major feeling in his heart screamed suspicion and confusion. The question of if this was just a ploy to get closer to him and influence him was at the surface of his mind. It wouldn't be the first time that someone had tried to get squeeze information out of him and it probably wouldn't be the last.

"I don't know…" Kakashi seemed at a loss for words but Iruka couldn't bring himself to interrupt or ask any other questions, entranced by the way the other man was struggling to form a coherent thought. His eyes moved up and couldn't help but find himself lost as well when Kakashi finally looked at him. "I don't think that we need to talk about work outside of work."

"What do you want to talk about then?" He asked slowly, leaning onto the table. It was nice to have the upperhand in a conversation for once and he couldn't help but feel more confident with every shade darker Kakashi's cheeks turned.

The moment between their eyes ended when Kakashi shifted in his seat and looked over the mass of people at the bar. He said suddenly, "music. Movies. What you're allergic to and what you like to do on your days off."

With his hand in his chin, Iruka tried his best to hold back a smile when Kakashi suddenly stood and coughed, "I'll get us some drinks."

"I like jazz and comedies. I don't have anything I'm allergic to and I usually use my weekends for walking and nature watching."

"Nature watching," Kakashi sipped from his straw.

"I know, it's not the most exciting thing to do but it's calming."

"Of course," he wanted to ask Iruka if he worked out. He remembered seeing Iruka running once. It had been a hot day maybe a year or two ago and he couldn't get the image out of his head of a sweaty Iruka in jogging pants.

"Have you ever been to Hokage park?" Iruka watched Kakashi shake his head and mutter something about not having enough time. The night fell back into playful banter and Iruka found himself laughing again despite the small nagging at the back of his mind.

"Wanna play some games?" They had gotten back onto the bowling alley and were only halfway through when Kakashi about moving to the arcade.

After a glancing over at the blinking lights at the other end, Iruka looked inside himself to find that he was really, really, really tired. "I think I might be a little…"

"Tired?" Kakashi provided and smirked when Iruka tried to hide a long yawn with a hand.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Iruka waved. "Please don't take this the wrong way but I was just hit with a wave of just… Tired."

"Don't worry about it. You've been so busy." They smiled at each other and started out of the amazing bowling alley and through the streets of Konoha again until they were back at the car, giving Iruka plenty of time to think.

"How do you feel about classical?" Kakashi was asking as they pulled up to Iruka's home and the younger man turned looked at him curiously.

"I don't hate it. Just depends on the composer and orchestra, I guess." He had his hand on the door and had propped it open to step out but couldn't just yet. There was a small debate in his head. Kakashi noticed the pause and turned off the car.

Iruka looked at Kakashi in the eyes. "Come hiking with me."

There was a long moment before Kakashi blinked. "Hiking?"

"Yes, hiking. With me. Hokage park."

"O… Okay," Kakashi was dumbfounded and Iruka grinned.

"Great. Hokage park Sunday morning." Before Kakashi had time to even recover, Iruka was stepping out of the car and hopping up the steps to his apartment. He only turned back after he had opened his front door. "I'll text you when I'm ready tomorrow."

Iruka swept into his home and left Kakashi stunned, staring out his open passenger door.

* * *

That night was spent sitting atop one of the many tall buildings of downtown Konoha as Scarecrow and Kakashi felt as if he was walking on air. The lights of Konoha seemed brighter to him and more hazy. There wasn't much that could bring him down from the high he was on but he quickly came back down to earth when he heard steps behind him. He prepared himself for the witty banter of a Black Cat but was surprised.

He stood and faced the newcomer. It was a different figure in black; shorter and more… Mysterious in a dark way. It was in a black hoodie just as the Cat would but this was no Black Cat. This was a stranger. A small stranger.

"Hello," he was cautious. The figure did not move. The lack of response made Kakashi even more on edge and pulled a hand to his belt, hovering in preparation over one of the small indents in his belt for his paralyzing needles. "I don't play well with the silent types-"

"Monday night." The whisper reached his ears and Kakashi took a cautious step closer. It was the voice of a boy or at least someone young.

He search his mind for anything happening Monday and wondered, "what about Monday?"

"Itachi Uchiha's death."

Before he could move, the figure bolted away and off the roof.


	5. Akatsuki

The sun was hitting his cheek just enough to get him up and he ran a hand over his face. This morning felt just like the last: hazy and slow. Kakashi had spend the second night in a row on his laptop and did not feel any more awake than when he'd fallen asleep.

Despite the great night he'd had with Iruka, the rest of it had been spent calling the closest team in Konoha to start working on setting up at the Mangekyou. He had a feeling that the kid in black from the night before hadn't been lying. He wondered if Itachi knew about the kid and if that's what he meant by 'things that will happen'.

Checking his phone, he had a text from Gai saying that everything was already set up at the Mangekyou and that they were good to go.

Padding to his study where he had just talked to Itachi the day before, he pressed his palm in the center of the desk and the hologram screen of Hatake Inc's central system lit up. After going through the five different login verifications, Kakashi was finally in the blank command prompt and typed in the specific codes for the Mangekyou project. He tapped the enter key and the command prompt was replaced by five different security feeds.

The first camera showed a poker table that was backed by an enormous fish tank. The second and third camera were pointed at a small but very luxurious bathroom and the small hallway that led to it. The fourth camera was pointed at the only entrance and exit to this room and the final feed showed a roaring fireplace with a red velvet couch that was just a step down from the rest of the room. Everything was tied together with the same black marble floor and gold trimming.

There was no one in sight at the moment but the sound of the fireplace crackling was crystal clear. It was obvious that the team had done a good job and Kakashi was eager to talk to someone at the police department about the footage they were getting and would eventually get. For now, there was no other way to access these feeds other than in that office. He would have to let the detective practically live in his apartment by the looks of it. It was not a very appealing thought.

He shut the system down to throw himself back into bed. Hopefully he would get to close his eyes for a few more minutes.

* * *

The buzz to Iruka's left sounded out and the barred door was pulled open by a guard on the other side. He stepped up to the table and pulled off the navy coat of his casual suit along with his belt. The gun holster around his shoulders followed, he pulled out the gun to unload the magazine and placed it in the little bins provided.

He was patted down for any other sharp objects or weapons before being let in through the next door. This was the usual procedure of his Saturday afternoons.

His escort led him through the maze of hallways until they reached another steel door. The guard buzzed his walkie talkie and a guard on the other side let them through into the open space of the Grado's third-tier guest wing.

It was a simple, white room without windows. The ceilings were tall but the room itself was only a few dozen feet large. There were two cafeteria-style tables and a guard in the corner watching over the four other people in the room.

There seemed like there was a couple leaning over the table towards a little girl with deep purple hair but Iruka strode in to sit across from the little hooded figure in the corner.

"Scowling will wrinkle your face." He said casual as he sat down.

Naruto looked up at him from where he was flopped against the table and scowled harder. "Is that why yours is so wrinkly?"

"Oh, so you want me to leave."

Iruka started to stand again to have Naruto scramble up just as he predicted. "I didn't mean that, Iruka! It was Kyuubi, I swear!"

With a frown of his own, Iruka crossed his arms and stared down at the little boy who immediately shrunk. "Was it?"

There was a moment of Naruto twitching in his seat before admitting, "no. I'm sorry"

Adjusting the sleeves of his shirt, Iruka sat back down to Naruto's relief. "Thank you for at least being honest with me. Honest goes a long way. Remember that next time."

Naruto hummed an agreement and watched Iruka start to roll up the sleeve and asked softly, "I heard there were explosions."

Pausing, Iruka looked up at him and thought carefully before saying, "you wouldn't be wrong."

"Iruka," Naruto strained as he gripped the edge of the table and whine for more information that Iruka groaned at.

"It's a highly sensitive subject, Naruto."

"I know that but I heard a cop died!"

"Shhh! Damn it, Naruto."

"I should be out there helping! What's going to happen if you get hit by a blast?" Naruto's voice was getting louder by the second.

"I don't know but we're figuring things out." With as much strength as he could muster, Iruka pulled himself back from getting louder and said calmly, "everything's going to be fine, Naruto. You have to focus on your exercises."

"I'm trying!" Naruto switched to another position on the table. "Jiraiya's been teaching me all sorts of techniques but its hard."

"You can do."

Naruto looked up at him and Iruka gave him a strained smile. "And once you've mastered those techniques, you'll be back to clearance one and I'll be taking you out for ramen properly."

* * *

"I'm sorry but there's nothing I can do for you. You're too far along." The voice from the dark hissed out and the bodyguard gripping the visitor's arm dragged the weak body out of the way.

"Please," the body begged as their slimy arm slipped out of the grip of the guard and he dropped to his knees. "Please, please, there must be something you can do."

"I wouldn't even know how to dispose of you, given the… Consistency of your body, let alone help you." The dark figure stood from his wooden chair and started to walk away. "Although, I do know a man who knows a lot about death. Maybe you should give him a call."

As the other man walked away with his entourage into the sewers of Konoha, Obito was left on his own, whimpering as he watched his own skin shift and melt off into thin air. He didn't want to die. He knew that this was all his own fault but he has always thought that he could keep it under control. This burden had been his to bear and he blew it.

* * *

That night, Kakashi heard the ring of a call interrupt his music. Pausing the treadmill, he stepped off and answered to a soft voice asking, "hello, is this Kakashi Hatake?"

"Yes, this is him."

"Hello, my name is Kurenai Yuhi from the CIS department from the Konoha Police Service. My current supervisor, mister Yamato Tenzo was hoping to set up a meeting to discuss arrangements for data transfers and such." This voice was definitely a woman's; very smooth and to the point just like most of the officer's he'd met. In fact, this one officer sounded all too familiar and he let a long pause ring after she had finished speaking.

"Ah? Wait, I've met you before, haven't I?"

"I didn't think you'd remember," there was a chuckle from her end and Kakashi couldn't help but feel offended slightly.

"Yeah," he said awkwardly before shifting his focus. "So, Tenzo's the head detective for this case, eh?"

"Y… Yes he is, sir."

Kakashi couldn't help but sigh at the fact that Tenzo was finally getting access for his information despite all the requests for cooperation over the years from the detective he had refused. Their little game of cat and mouse was over and Kakashi finally was giving. "Hmm. guess I'll have to meet with him in person then."

"Yes, the detective has tonight available-"

"I'll see you Monday, Kurenai," he sing-songed as he hung up, deciding to make Yamato wait just a few more days.

* * *

"So, I was thinking we could take this trail around the outer edge and then use this shortcut on the way back." Iruka was motioning along the trail map and Kakashi nodded in response.

"Sounds good, do we want to be at the lake by noon or can we make this an easy-going kind of walk?" That made Iruka chuckle as they started through the gravel path covered by trees.

The air around them was cool with the morning but they could feel the humid in their lungs and soon they were walking in a silence to focus on their breathing. It gave time for Kakashi to simply be with Iruka. They usually were around other people, sounds and things that were all so busy and distracting.

He realized he had never seen Iruka in anything that was only casual. In his slimming soccer pants and tight t-shirt, Iruka looked good; fit and ready for action. There was so much to study about the man that intrigued him like the way Iruka seemed much more animated compared to when they were at work. Iruka was normally a straight edge on the job and in public; sharp and hard. Though when Kakashi was around, it seemed like the younger man relaxed a bit and that biting edge became snapping wit.

Now, he noticed the familiar bob of Iruka's ponytail when he walked. They were climbing up a steep slope and over slates of rock with Iruka ahead, looking back to give Kakashi a smirk. Kakashi couldn't help notice the way Iruka's hair was coming out of its tail at the ears and around his forehead.

"Want to stop?" Kakashi came back into the present at the question.

"How far's the lake?" They had walked for such a long time, talking intermittently. Despite his legs starting to tire, he felt so relaxed.

"About ten more minutes." Their pace had slowed, brisk walk dipping into just a simple walk. Side by side, Iruka looked over at Kakashi. "Tired yet?"

"Not yet." He looked over and joked, "would you call me an old man if I said yes?"

There was a laugh, "no, I would call you a spoiled rich boy."

"Ooh, low blow."

Their steps slowed until they were walking side by side and fell into silence, enjoying each other's company. Kakashi felt good; an unusual sense of calm had descended upon him. This was so good. After being around people who were always putting on the mask of etiquette and business, it was a nice change of pace to be round someone who wasn't fake all the time. Iruka was one of the very few people in Konoha who spoke and acted freely.

At the very least, he was the only one that Kakashi really could tell was being real with him. It was heartracing to have someone stare you directly in the eyes and tell you exactly what they thought you could do with your money if you didn't get out of their office. He didn't know if it was because Iruka remembered him from before becoming commissioner but he liked to believe Iruka saw him as Kakashi either way. It made his chest squeeze just a bit tighter.

"Hey," Iruka was looking off at the trail ahead of them in thought. "Have you ever thought about settling down?"

Kakashi couldn't help but look over at Iruka in surprise at the sudden question. Settling down? "Like… Having a family?"

With his eyes still on Iruka, he could see the nod and the pinch of pink on Iruka's cheeks but he glanced away when the other man met his eyes. He hadn't really thought about it. There hadn't been a point in his life where he felt like he wanted to have a spouse, let alone kids. There was a part of him that briefly imagined him folding his own clothes and someone else's. In all honesty, if there was any other human being he wouldn't mind at least living with, it would be Iruka. Not that he could ever say that out loud. Instead, he coughed, "I've never really thought about it. I mean, I guess I wouldn't mind getting married but… Kids are something else, you know?"

"Of course."

"Not that I even know what good parenting is anyway," he shrugged and looked over curiously at Iruka who was nodding in acknowledgement. That was just his background with parents but he wondered about Iruka; an orphan just like him. "But what about you?"

"Hmm? Oh, um… Well, I guess I wouldn't know either but it's nice to think maybe one day I could be a good influence on someone." There was a small smile on Iruka's face and a look that told Kakashi he was deep in memories and Kakashi couldn't help but feel just a warm.

"Like Naruto?"

Iruka grinned and cheekily rubbed a cheek. "Am I that easy to read?"

"Not exactly," the was a fond smile exchanged between them and Kakashi went on. "It seems to me like you're already a good influence on him. From what you've told me at least."

"Gyuh, not exactly. He always managed to violate his probation somehow and ends up back at Gedo just as he gets out. You would think that he'd rather be in Gedo then with a foster family. He's such a trouble maker, I swear."

"Seems to me like more than just your good influence rubbed off on him." Even though Kakashi grinned, Iruka snapped back to him with burning cheeks.

"You…"

"I have a photographic memory, Iruka." The tall man confessed, leaving Iruka speechless and unmoving for a second.

"Wait. So you remember..."

There was a glint in Kakashi's eyes. "Everything."

* * *

"If you have a photographic memory, then you were lying all those times you said you forgot when our meetings were."

"I might have fibbed here and there." They were by the lake now, finishing their lunch, and Iruka was pointing his water bottle at Kakashi. It had been many long minutes until Iruka could actually face him again. Being able to remember almost anything seemed like an amazing skill. If Kakashi did have such a strong memory, then he probably remembered every time Iruka yelled at him or worse.

"You must remember when we first met then."

"Hmm?" Kakashi was looking at him curiously now and it made him uneasy. He told himself that it was because when they met was embarrassing and not because Kakashi had a stare that could pierce even the hardest of shields.

"I think so." The way Kakashi was musing over it for such a long time gave Iruka hope that he didn't actually remember and was probably thinking of-

"Kind of hard to forget. You did steal my wallet after all."

Shocked into silence, Iruka listened as Kakashi went on, "I mean, that's going way back though. I'm pretty sure we officially met when you got your job as Tsunade's assistant, right?"

"I wasn't her assistant." Iruka corrected, "I was a real police officer."

"Yeah, but you were almost always in her office."

"She was the one who was training me and I was usually dealing with you trying to butter her up for your new business deals." As if he could see the thoughts in Kakashi's head through his eyes, Iruka knew that Kakashi was going through a very explicit memory that Iruka had kept in the far depths of his memory. "Get your mind out of the gutter."

"You brought it up, not me." Kakashi was putting his hands in innocence and turned his back to zip up his backpack. With a deep breath, Iruka turned his attention to slinging his own bag over his shoulders.

"This way?" Kakashi had pointed to the way they came and Iruka gave a muttered yes in return, losing himself in his thoughts.

He wondered why Kakashi hadn't shown any sign of knowing Iruka when they met again in Tsunade's office despite Iruka teetering the lines of a panic attack at seeing someone who he had gotten caught stealing from back when he was on the wrong side of the law. Maybe Kakashi thought he was doing Iruka a favour. Had he thought that Iruka was paying off that favour when they...

It would make sense.

The flush on his cheek wouldn't go away. Thankfully, he could blame it on their altitude or the humidity.

These were memories that he hadn't thought of in years. At the time, they had been so strong in his mind and haunted him almost every night; the fear of Kakashi telling Tsunade about Iruka's shady past and the younger man losing his job. The constant flirting from Kakashi was what threw him in a loop and made him so confused even though Kakashi pretended he hadn't met Iruka before. To the naked eye, no one would have guessed that their back and forth was had been anything remotely lustful since they would bicker just as much. Almost every night after Kakashi would be in the office, Iruka remembered being quite sweaty and stiff

Their banter had quite literally come to a climax the night before Kakashi left on a very long business trip only to ever see each other again in passing glances almost a year later. They were almost strangers then but the distance had been kind. Iruka had been promoted to chief and was no longer a pushover and Kakashi seemed to had relaxed into himself.

From what Iruka had seen, Kakashi was confident enough not to rely on sexual escapades anymore.

Now, they had changed as people. It was almost poetic that they were friends. Or, at least, Iruka guessed they were friends. He still didn't know what to call them but he knew coworkers or acquaintances was not a term that could be used between them. Not after…

Iruka stopped himself from thinking about it. He refused to let himself fall into a hole that would be very hard to get out of especially when they were putting their things into Kakashi's car.

"Let's see," Kakashi had pulled out his phone and was checking a few things as they got in the car. "It'll be dinner in a few hours, want to maybe go somewhere else?"

"We're a little too sweaty to do anything in public, I think." Iruka smiled as Kakashi glanced down to check his shirt.

"Ahn, yeah, just a bit." It was almost cute the way Kakashi pulled at his tank top.

"Maybe we can do something next weekend. Maybe we could actually go to a restaurant." He couldn't help but offer.

"That sounds nice."

Biting his lip, Iruka continued on with a fire in his veins, "like a date."

Kakashi met his eyes with an intensity that him twitch. Afraid he had read KAkashi's signals wrong, Iruka had a hard time keeping his head up and gripped the handle of his door when Kakashi asked in a serious, rumbling voice. "A date?"

"Yeah." He felt breathless; limbs numb with anxiousness.

The long pause that followed felt like they were slowly taking the climb of a roller coaster but there wasn't anything Iruka could do to stop could only wait for Kakashi to move or at least do something; anything.

"Okay."

They still sat in silence for a second before Iruka repeated, "okay."

"Cool. Dinner." Kakashi affirmed with a straight face before turning his eyes to the wheel and quickly starting the car.

There was a sudden burst of panic in Iruka's chest and, despite Kakashi's 'okay', he wondered if Kakashi really meant okay or if he was only agreeing to get out of a bad situation. They passed the trees and were quickly in the city without either of them ever saying a word to each other and Iruka felt like he had made a mistake. By the time Kakashi had stopped the car on the opposite side of the street, Iruka was out of the car in a flash and grabbing his backpack from the backseat.

Kakashi was stunned in his seat, feeling both relieved and… Scared. He couldn't move as Iruka was gathering his things and he felt useless when he heard the backroom shut. Before he knew it, Iruka was crossing the street with a 'see ya' thrown over his shoulder.

Jumping out of the car, he bolted across the street, calling out, "Iruka, wait!"

Iruka stopped as he was halfway up the stairs to his home and slowly turned with a foot on the next step, Kakashi jogging up to the steps.

"Iruka."

"Yes?"

"I… I had fun today. Thank you."

Iruka nodded, "you're welcome… I guess."

There was a pause. Swallowing the knot in his throat, Kakashi held himself back from asking if he could come in. "I… What kind of food do you like?"

When Iruka didn't answer, Kakashi continued on, "I mean, do you like chinese or maybe Italian or Indi-"

"I'm not picky." Iruka cut in as they caught each other's eyes again and there was an almost audible sigh of relief.

"Okay, I'll figure something out."

Kakashi watched Iruka brush a finger over his cheekbone again as the younger man mused. "I'm gonna be pretty busy this next week."

"Ah shit," Kakashi remembered the figure and their ominous words from the night before. "How about you text me when it's good for you."

The offer seemed to take Iruka by surprise and Kakashi smiled when Iruka said, "sure."

After a minute of staring, they jolted back into reality and Kakashi gestured to his car, "I'll um…"

"Yeah,"

"Get going."

"Me too."

"I'll see you… Later." Kakashi gave a stiff nod, jogged back across the street and into his car, gripping the steering wheel tight. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Iruka turn to move up the last steps to his home and look back. With a vice around his heart, he tore his eyes away and started the car.

The car drove off and, after watching it go, Iruka pulled out his keys and stepped into his home with a sigh of relief. Throwing his keys and bag onto the couch, he pressed a hand against one of his burning cheeks. He needed water.

At the sink, he downed a whole glass before breathing out a ragged breath and felt his shoulders relax at being in the comfort of his own, quiet home.

He took the time to breathe, trying to clear his head.

After shuffling to the couch, he blinked back a dizzy spell and dropped onto the sofa. Within seconds, his eyes fell shut.

* * *

With a loud yawn, Asuma checked his phone again for the time and to see if he had gotten a text back.

It wasn't like the commissioner to be late for work. It was almost odd that Iruka hadn't been waiting for him to arrive. He may have been sleepy and worn out from all the overtime he had to pull but he felt like something was wrong.

Stepping out of his suv, he made his way up the steps and knocked on Iruka's door.

After a long minute of no response, he knocked again and tried to look in through the little windows that framed the front door to find no one in the entryway; no sign of life at all. After one last knock, he dialed Iruka's cell. Maybe Iruka had gone in early and forgot to let him know?

There was a ring.

Another ring.

A last ring before, "the person you are trying to reach is unavailable at the moment. Leave a-"

He hung up and called the office. Maybe Iruka had left his phone behind.

"The person you are trying to reach-"

He called the next person he could think of.

"Konoha police department, how may I help you?"

"Izumo? It's Asuma."

"Asuma, calling this early?" Izumo joked on the other end but Asuma ignored it as he stepped down the steps of the townhouse and slowly stepped around the side of the building to get to the back.

"I'm at Iruka's still."

"What? It's almost ten."

"I know. I'm assuming you haven't seen him come in at all."

There was a shuffling on the other end and Asuma scanned the windows along the side of the building as he went; no broken windows or sign of entry. "Not yet. His office is still locked. Give me a second."

Asuma hummed as he heard more noise from Izumo's end. He kept going down the small pathway and was just around the corner when he saw the backdoor.

"Yeah, he hasn't been in the building at all yet." Izumo finally popped back in.

"Izumo, I have to go, I'll talk to you later." Without waiting for a response, he hung up and switched to his radio.

"Sarutobi to dispatch."

"Dispatch 10-4. Over." was the response as he stepped lightly up the steps to the backdoor that had been hanging open.

"Signs of a 10-41R at 52 Oakland, requesting backup. Possible 10-22M. Over."

"10-4 officer, sending backup. Over."

"10-4. Over and out."

Pulling out his gun, Asuma nudged the door open with his his free hand and stepped into the empty home.

* * *

Despite wanting to keep Yamato waiting for long periods of time, there wasn't much left for Kakashi to do that morning. He had already slipped on the skin tight base of special transparent fabric that turned into his Scarecrow suit under his casual suit and packed away his mask, cloak and belt into his briefcase. He was ready to both meet with Yamato and keep an eye on Itachi that night.

He looked at his phone and wasn't surprised to see he didn't have a text from the one person who he wanted to message him. While he was excited to get the chance to see Iruka today, he was… Nervous.

Without putting it off any longer, he locked his door, drove up to the police department and parked in the spot that almost had his name on it by now. After a quick jog up the parking lot stairs, he gave a quick wink to the secretary who grinned at him and went back to reading her magazine.

He was about to take the stairs to Yamato's office when he noticed how the front entrance was almost wiped clean of people. It was around their lunch break. There should have been officers and office clerks streaming in and out with their food but there was only the secretary and the security guard at the front.

There was something wrong. After climbing the three flights of stairs to the third floor, the was almost unsurprised to see people zipping around while others were intently focused at their desks. Yamato wasn't in the detective office.

"Pst, Hatake." From his nearby cubicle, Kotetsu was pointing down one of the halls towards the other side of the building and Kakashi gave him a thankful nod. The first meeting room was dark but the second was bright and occupied with four agitated bodies that he could hear through the slightly ajar door.

"I know but it's not consistent with patterns on the floor."

While Yamato was bend over the table and studying a very large array of pictures and bags, two other familiar faces were in front of the whiteboard and at a laptop while Asuma was at the window.

He didn't bother knocking, Yamato noticing him through the door's window and motioning him in.

"I didn't think you'd actually come." The detective hummed with much distraction that Kakashi couldn't help but come over to peer that the photographs on the table.

"I like to shake things up once in awhile." His voice trailed off when he noticed how familiar the scene in the pictures looked. He froze when he finally recognized it as Iruka's kitchen and living room. "W… What's going on…"

Asuma looked away while Yamato gave Kakashi a curious look before Asuma waved at him to explain. "Missing person."

"Missing?" He almost dropped his briefcase but caught himself. "I just saw him last night."

"Last night?" The two interns perked up and Yamato stood up straight. "At what time?"

"Around… Five maybe six. I dropped him off." He moved closer to the table and studied the pictures intently. The couch was on its back, there was pieces of glass and wood strewn around the living room as if someone had body slammed into the coffee table and the armchair was thrown into a corner. There were close ups on the backdoor lock, Iruka's backpack, keys and what looked like blood. "Shit. Do you think he's alive?"

"We hope so. At least, there isn't enough blood to suggest he was cut. It looks like there was a struggle." Yamato said as he studied the other man's face. It was jarring to see the normally cool Kakashi look so unnerved.

After watching a few minutes of silence as Kakashi scanned the evidence so far, Asuma shifted and offered, "why don't you and Yamato have that meeting? We could all use a little break."

Yamato nodded and showed Kakashi the way back to his office as Asuma moved closer to the table and felt a touch of the dread he guessed Kakashi was probably filled with.

* * *

"So, now you just have to create a password that only you will have access to and… Voila." Kurenai nodded and smiled up at Kakashi warmly.

"Thank you, we'll be sure to use your network with care," she said kindly and looked over at Yamato who nodded to Kakashi.

"Yes, we really do appreciate it." The other man echoed and Kakashi nodded dimly at the laptop he had brought in.

After swallowing against his dry throat, he said, "I think there's a few feed you might be very interested in."

Taking over control of the computer, he clicked on a new window and tapped in a few console commands before five new feeds opened themselves up on screen to the shock of the others in the room. "Our Mangekyou project."

"How did you get these?" Yamato demanded in astonishment as he poured over the computer that showed a crystal clear image of a black-haired man having lunch with two other ominous figures inside Itachi's private room of the Mangekyou casino.

"I got a very good offer." He muttered before leaving the room with his case.

"Wait up!" Yamato called after him and they walked to the elevator together. There wasn't much he could say. There was something else going on that Yamato didn't understand but he wanted to give the other man some sort of hope since it seemed like he needed it the most. As it opened, he said, "Hatake. We'll find him."

"Thank you, Tenzo."

* * *

Despite it being only mid-afternoon, the Scarecrow was already out and about. There wasn't much that Kakashi could do as himself.

His first priority was to check Iruka's home for anything else that might help him out but he doubted there would be anything useful. The information he had seen on the whiteboard told him that the blood had been dry enough to mean that it had happened at least five hours before they found the scene. On the other hand, they had also noted that there hadn't been any sneakers in the entryway that belonged to the drag marks through the kitchen. They were most likely the sneaker Iruka had been wearing the day before. That meant that Iruka had probably been kidnaped a maximum of an hour after Kakashi left.

Once he was at Iruka's apartment, he snuck passed the police car that was on duty out front easily and slipped in through the open backdoor. The kitchen was just as the investigators had left it; almost spotless except for pieces of broken glass and the skid marks through it to the backdoor. As he approached the living room, ban on his wrist flashed on, notifying him that it had detected a chemical present. Tapping it, the word chloroform scrolled by with a very small percentage following it.

"Trace amounts in the air, huh?" The attacker probably used it to knock Iruka out. The mess of the apartment indicated that Iruka hadn't gone down without a fight. As he moved through to the living room, the number fluctuated. Interesting.

It must have been an airborne solution. They had probably sprayed it throughout the home before Iruka walked inside. Feeling oddly calm about the whole situation, he scouted out the rest of the home with no other luck and retraced his steps back out.

There was only one other place he had to be and the setting sun told him that he should head towards the flashing lights of the Mangekyou Casino. He has a feeling that Itachi was the key to finding Iruka and stopping whatever was going on in this city.

On top of the casino about an hour later, he was quietly sliding in through the side door for employees only and found himself on one of the upper levels that looked down onto the rows and rows of slot machines. To his left was a familiar hallway that he disappeared down. As he went, he flicked through the watch on his other wrist until it showed him a clear view of Itachi's room. Inside, Itachi and another man were sitting by the fire and talking. He could hear them through the earpiece of his mask.

"They said they would be here in about twenty minutes." The other man was saying as Kakashi turned another corner and backtracked right back around after seeing a pair of guards.

"They're taking long on something that should be short." Itachi commented.

The two guards were making rounds down the hall, walking almost far enough to see into the alcove where Kakashi had hid and then turning around to walk back down the hall. As they went, Kakashi stayed close on their heels with the least amount of noise he could make. They finally passed the first door and he risked another few feet before sliding into the next door. A small janitor's closet and, just like on the plans Gai had sent for confirmation, he found the ventilation panel.

It was hidden behind a broken slot machine and a few boxes but he managed to quietly wiggle the machine out a few feet so he could get at the panel to unscrew the safety grid with the claw on his glove. Once the grid was out of the way, he realized how small the entrance was and was glad that he was tall instead of wide.

After a lot of silent wiggling, passing over a hole leading down, more wiggling and somehow crawling up a 90 degree incline, he managed to worm his way to an exit. He could barely see the bathroom on the other side in the darkness. The only way to really get the grid of this one was to punch it out unless you had asked Gai to unscrew the two bottom screws, which Kakashi had done.

It seemed as though Itachi was waiting for someone to arrive. There was nothing else for him to do except wait. He laid there on his stomach, watching the screen on his wrist as Itachi and the other man lazied about. While he felt very useless hiding in that vent, he felt even more like a failure.

While he regretted not asking Iruka if he could come in last night, he knew that they would probably be in an even worse situation if they both had been knocked out and kidnapped.

All he could do was hope Iruka was still alive.

* * *

Iruka's head ached like a bitch. It was mostly from hunger but whatever chemicals they kept using to knock him out weren't the most organic either. He was actually surprised he hadn't died from cardiac arrest yet.

Thankfully, he still had the will to live; they hadn't treated him horribly enough for him to want to die just yet. The manhandling was rough as to be expected and so far they'd only beat him up twice which wasn't the worst. The gas was even making him oddly optimistic but that might have been because he was having slight hallucinations of a certain sexy businessman.

God, Kakashi's new car turned him on. All responsible and reliable; just like Kakashi.

His musing were cut short when the door to the little room he was in swung open and a pair of uglies walked in to half drag him out. Iruka felt his head loll forward and snapped it back up to look around the basement they were dragging him out of.

It kind of looked like the basement of a hotel but he couldn't catch a glimpse before he was thrown into the trunk of a car. Dang, it was a fancy car too. By the looks of it, the trunk was lined with what seemed like a softer fabric than most cars. At least, that's what Iruka guessed. He hadn't been in the trunk of many cars before.

Even though that one had been particularly nice, he wasn't in it for long. After a rough drive, the trunk opened again and he was dragged out again by his armpits.

"Shit, what the hell did you do?" A voice asked and Iruka stopped looking at the sky to see who was talking. He surprisingly could understand what he was seeing and guessed the chemical was wearing off.

They were behind a building, in an alley of the city by the looks of it, and there was another pulled up behind the one he'd been taken out of. Looking around, the guys gripping his arms were wearing black suits. There were four other people in the alley and Iruka had a hard time focusing on the furthest ones but he immediately recognized the ones nearest to him from their criminal records.

Wearing the same suits as the other two, Sasori and Deidara looked a lot more clean than what they had on file.

"I thought the plan was to wait until he's ready." A woman asked. Her companion was looking just as silently furious as she was. They were both standing in front of the suv that was presumably thiers, across from Sasori and Deidara who were looking pretty dark and gloomy too.

"It would be better to start things off with a bang rather than wait until Itachi makes up his mind about the whole thing. This needs to happen tonight or else we won't have a second chance." Deidara was explaining as the nameless man walked around them to Iruka who was starting to sober up real fast.

"I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience, commissioner, but you're going to have to get back in the trunk," said the deep voice of the serious face that stared straight through Iruka. That was a lot of piercings for one face.

Sasori had turned to them. "He's not going in the trunk anymore. The license plate on that one will give us away if we get pulled over. We're taking yours."

The woman sighed and straightened her blouse before they slid into the suv with the woman at the wheel and piercings next to her.

Unlike its appearance, the suv was much larger on the inside and the seats were custom made like a limousine in the passengers' area. Half dragged into the seat across from the door, the two guys at his arms squished him in with Sasori and Deidara following in behind.

"We should be there in ten minutes. Let's just hope that Itachi is ready." The woman was saying as they drove out into the street. Iruka's floppy neck was finally strong enough to lift his head up to see the rest of the car and he almost jolted when he saw the shape of a man across from them, next to the door.

"Iruka?" The feeble response reminded Iruka of someone and he squinted to see further into the dark hood that covered the man's face but he couldn't see much. "What did you do to him? Why is he here?"

As Iruka's mind scrambled to figure out who it was, Deidara leaned over to the woman driving, "Konan, we need to take sixth street instead. They blocked off the fifth from Bank to Lyon."

"Just perfect," Konan mumbled as they suddenly took a jarring left. The hooded man across from then jerked forward at the movement and Iruka felt something hit his cheek. Just as quick as it hit, the wet feeling was gone. He looked up and finally caught a glimpse of the person under the hood.

"Obito?" He might have been high. That's probably it. He was high; that was the only explanation. He might have dragged the 'o' at the end longer than he should have. "I thought you were in the uh… The… Place where they fix you up?"

"The hospital? No, I…" Obito sounded like he was breaking down. What was going on? Confused, the police officer leaned over and tried to get a good look at the Uchiha who looked different. At first, he ignored it was because his eyes were seeing double but his head wasn't spinning anymore and he could see pretty clearly that Obito's faced was pretty… Melty.

"You're all… Drippy." Iruka commented pretty blatantly to which Obito seemed to twitch.

"The explosion triggered something. It's… Hard to explain. Especially to someone who looks like they're about to either puke or fall asleep."

"Triggered? What's going on? Why are you…"

Iruka watched Obito glance over at Sasori and Deidara then back at the two guards before quickly whispering across to him, "I'm dying and once I die, he's going to come back and kill everyone."

"Wh… Who? What?"

As Obito opened his mouth again, a hand came down around his mouth. Sasori's soft voice whispered out. "Shhhh. Don't worry. You'll be one with him soon, commissioner."

"One?" They were thrown into another turn before an abrupt stop. Iruka was manhandled out along with Obito and they found themselves walking down red velvet halls. The fear that had been stamped down by the chemicals running through his brain flared up. Iruka recognized these halls probably too well. One involuntary shiver later and a very tense elevator ride, they stopped at a pair of classy, black doors as Konan's partner knocked once.

After a small pause, the man opened the doors and strode inside of Itachi's private room inside of the Mangekyou.

The table to the left had a familiar face at a laptop; Kisame. To the right, Itachi stood a grim face from the couch in front of a fireplace. They were both wearing the same suit pattern as the others and Iruka couldn't help but stand a bit straighter and taller. This was bad.

* * *

"Shit, this thing is recording right?" Kurenai nodded in shock as Yamato threw on his coat and ran out of his office.

"Asuma!" He checked the meeting room and bolted to the break room to find the captain setting down a cup of coffee. Yamato panted, "Asuma, we found him."

"Where is he?"

They strode back to Yamato's office and the detective explained along the way, "the Mangekyou. Itachi's office by the looks of it from Hatake's feeds."

"Is he okay?" They slid inside the office and Asuma saw for himself the state Iruka was in. Most of his hair had fallen from his ponytail and pushed back behind an ear but his face was as clear as day; a bruise right under his eye, lip split again and bleeding. This shirt was stained with his own blood down the front and his a leg of his pants was torn at the knee.

Despite looking like a mess, his eyes were still sharp and his face was still.

"He's not dead, at least."

Asuma nodded and squinted at the screen. "Shit. It looks like most of them are there."

"Akatsuki is reformed by the looks of it." Yamato pointed to a figure trailing behind the new group. "Looks like they've got a new recruit."

"That's… Hatake's butler." Before Yamato could respond, Asuma continued as he took out his phone. "Do you know anything about Uchihas', detective?"

"Yes, probably a lot more than I'd like." Yamato went over to his own laptop and pulled open a file with what looked like thousands of case files and profiles. "They're somewhat of a… Traditional family. Very religious and if that's who I think it is…"

"Obito Uchiha. One of the last beside Itachi."

Yamato chimed in. "And Sasuke."

"Yeah," there was a moment where they were both lost in thought before snapping back.

"Is there something we can do?" Yamato was running a hand over his chin and looked to Asuma for an answer.

It was a good question. They could round up a small group of officers in riot gear. There were a few undercover cars still in the lot. The only problem would be getting into the casino without alerting security.

"Going through the backdoor will most likely trigger an alarm." Asuma mused.

With a snap of his fingers, Yamato shrugged his coat off again. "We go through the front. This is all part of the investigation right? We're looking for Umino and they might have information."

"Yeah, but we're not the Scarecrow. We can't just waltz in there."

"That's true, why don't we contact the local vigilantes?"

"I can't get a hold of the Scarecrow and if anyone ever gets a hold of the Cat, no offense detective, but I'll shit a brick."

"So then we go in through the front."

It seemed like that was their only option.

* * *

"Umino. Nagato, what is this?" Itachi looked to the man loaded with piercings who shook his head.

"We're going to start, Itachi. We can't put it off any longer. He's already starting to deteriorate." Over his shoulder, Iruka could see Obito curled up on the chair he had dropped into in a corner.

"That's not what I was asking." Itachi was as serious in that moment as a man could get. While his face wasn't angry, there weren't any other emotions even remotely flickering on his face; a very useful skill for a businessman who dealt in crime.

"Deidara and Sasori decided that instead of Hatake, they'd bring back a cop." Konan said from the couch as Nagato went to join her.

"That wasn't the deal." The room turned to find Obito slouched and weak against the corner as a puddle of red and white liquid pooled under his chair. "You said Hatake, not Umino."

"Why spy on people when you can take the information yourself?" Deidara demanded as he pushed Iruka forward towards Itachi. Iruka had stayed quiet but when he stumbled forward and looked up, his eyes met Itachi. In that brief moment, there was a silent conversation that the other Akatsuki didn't see or couldn't understand.

"Fine," Itachi said after a moment of locking eyes, looking to the rest of the group who were just as still. "Get out. You know the drill."

"Let's go." Nagato was already out the door with Konan and the other duo close behind. The doors closed behind them and the room stayed silent as they heard Konan assign Deidara and Sasori to guard the door.

"Itachi." Kisame was standing from his chair, studying the Uchiha. "Is this really it? Are we really doing this?"

"I said it was fine."

There was a tense pause before Kisame nodded and picked up the table to move it out of the room, into the hall that led to the bathroom. Itachi reached under the couch to press a button that made it sink into the floor before the floor shifted to cover it up.

All the while, Iruka stood still in the center of the room, waiting and watching in both fear and anxiousness but mostly fear. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Obito and found that the slowly melting man had pressed his face against the wall with hazy eyes. Iruka couldn't tell what was wrong with him. It definitely hadn't been from the explosion. And what Obito had said before… 'One with him'. He didn't like the sound of that at all. Whoever it was could stay far,far away from his body.

Obito looked like he wasn't so much on death's doorstep but more like he was on death's couch and Iruka felt like there was a part of himself that felt useless. That part of him though was buried under layers upon layers of dissociation and suspicion after seeing how Obito had seemed to be going along with all of this. Iruka was trying to find a way out of this.

He was debating between using Itachi as a shield and backing out or simply running when Kisame came back into the room as Itachi went up to the up to the aquarium. For a moment, it looked like he was opening the door under the tank to get fish food but the squeak of something being turned rang out through the quiet room. Another and another and another until finally a gush of dark red came pouring out from the cabinet and onto the floor. It was coming from a pipe hidden in the cabinet under the tank; slow and thick and very familiar. As it came pouring out onto the floor and slowly creeping its way over the black marble. It slowly kept pouring out and Itachi just watched it happen with a grim face, Kisame stepping through the slowly growing mess across to where Obito's body was slouched. It was almost at Iruka's feet when the smell hit him.

It smelled tangy like metal and rotten like the sea. It smelled like dead bodies.

Opening his mouth to call out to Itachi, Iruka closed it immediately and gagged. He finally got the strength to call out, "Itachi."

There was no response as itachi continued to watch the floor. Kisame lifted body from chair, moving to where the couch was before and dropping Obito's body onto the lower level like a doll just as blood started to fall from the upper level into the lower velvet level. Iruka grimaced at the hard thud the body made as the blood finally reached his sneakers and he almost slipped into it, caught by Kisame who dragged him by the collar to where he had set up the chair in the middle of the room.

His sneakers were covered in it now. He wondered who's blood it was. There was was one answer that seemed plausible but he wondered if blood had an expiration date. The faucet was turned off, Itachi stood and the two Akatsuki left shared looks.

"I'm good here, Kisame." Itachi murmured as he stepped away from the aquarium, placing a hand on Iruka's shoulder. "Leave it to me."

Nodding, Kisame stepped through the blood to the front door and closed it behind him. Iruka had watch him do and was afraid to turn back to Itachi or the body that was slowly being surrounded and covered in red.

"Itachi." The other man had stepped over to just before the lip of the next level to look over Obito before looking over his shoulder at Iruka.

"He's dead." In the silence that followed, Iruka gritted his teeth.


	6. Uchiha

"He's dead."

"Dead." Iruka was something in the pit of his stomach that swelled; anger. Now that he was alone with Itachi, he couldn't help that fear that had been there before be replaced by anger. "I need answers, Itachi. Other than the ones that I've come up with by myself."

"Like what?" The smile that came with those words pissed him off and Iruka flicked his sneaker up, sending old blood splattering onto Itachi's back all the way up to his neck. Unfazed, the Uchiha kept his gaze on Iruka as he turned.

"I think you know exactly what," was the whisper Iruka made as he shifted his foot in the blood.

"I'm sorry you had to get mixed up in this, commissioner. You know that we value your-" Iruka had enough of this guy's bullshit.

"Skip the protocol, Itachi. Talk to me." There was a moment of hesitation on Itachi's part, where his eyes flickered to the door.

Face finally showing more emotions than just frustration, Itachi strode behind Iruka and sliced off the plastic ties holding Iruka's hands back while saying softly, "there isn't much time. You'll have to hide in the bathroom once we're done. The power will probably cut out then in the chaos we'll sneak you out the back after this thing is over."

With quick steps to the pool of blood where the couch had been and where Obito's body was beginning to float, Itachi slowly started to wade into it towards the fireplace.

Standing on shaking legs, Iruka stepped towards the hallway away from the chair and asked, "what is all of this for? Is this why you killed them all?"

There was a moment where Itachi paused before grabbing a hold of Obito's waist and shifting it in the blood until it was perpendicular to the fireplace, a trail of melted skin from where it was moved. Iruka shivered involuntarily at the sight.

"There has always been a curse on my family; death, destruction. But no one in my family could ever figure out why or at least they didn't want to know why, seeing as they continued to believe that the resurrection of our ancestors would lead us to wealth and power." Itachi was moving back to where Iruka was, stepping onto the higher level and standing next to him as they looked at the body.

"Madara," Iruka couldn't help but whisper with a tremor at the back of his neck.

"Obito became the vessel before he was even born and the family would have killed him when he was just a child to bring Madara back if it weren't for the Hatakes."

"They kept him safe." Iruka supplied as Itachi pulled out a lighter.

"Unconsciously yes. But now he have to bring him back and kill him before I no longer can." Iruka looked at Itachi in horror. If Madara was brought back, the city would fall back into the ruins it had been in before Tsunade took over. If Itachi wasn't making such an analytical face, Iruka would have simply thought him mad.

"You planned this. That was what all the deals were for. So you could avoid suspicion." Iruka accused as Itachi flicked the lighter on and threw it onto the floating body.

"I had to. Or else he would have been brought back free by the Akatsuki." The flames suddenly engulfed Obito's body and started growing higher and higher. Iruka had to step back but looked towards Itachi as the other man said, "Madara will take over Obito's body instead of taking over someone else's."

The sprinklers suddenly shot on but the fire kept growing and growing. The pool of blood seemed to be letting the fire consume it and the blood on the marble floor where they were standing moved towards the greater body as if pulled closer. Just as the last of it was pulled in, the sprinklers and lights both flickered off at the same time. The room would have been black if not for the fire that framed them but the raging mass shifted and flickered. The fire was slowly turning a bright green before shifting blue. The smell of burning flesh and the sound of crackling were growing louder. Suddenly, the blue flames died and left them in darkness before reappearing. Instead of blue, this time they were black and red.

Iruka was pushed back by the heat, covering his face against the blast of hot air. Throwing down his arms, he called out into the loud winds, "Itachi!"

A loud, airy scream filled the air to make them wince and the whole room shuddered.

* * *

The building shook and in the dark of the staircase illuminated by only a red emergency sign, Asuma and Yamato exchanged looks and hurried up the steps. They had passed through the main door with ease and Yamato had kept it extremely cool as they passed two people on the floor that he recognized; Konan and Nagato.

They had been lucky, extremely lucky with the power going out. Guests had suddenly screamed once the fire alarms started going off and the panic of the lights going out soon after gave them the opportunity to burst into an emergency staircase with other guests. Instead of following the crowd, they rushed away unnoticed.

In front of the glowing number for the fourth floor, Asuma called for backup as they carefully and quickly stepped into the dark hall. Without the red emergency signs, they would have been completely blind in the flurry of sprinklers and darkness but they stealthily were able to navigate their way through until they came to a corner. Just barely looking around it, Asuma motioned Yamato back down the hall to talk through the water. "Two people at the door guarding."

"I'll go around and distract them," Yamato nodded and he bolted off the way they came and around a corner.

"Yamato!" Asuma tried to call out as quietly as he could but was too late. It was alone in the pouring dark when he heard the piercing screech coming from Itachi's room; brief and harsh. After a moment of shifting debate, there was only one thing he could do. He hurried back to the corner and waiting in the sprinkling of water for some kind of noise or signal.

A bullet flew down from the hall into the other side of the wall and a scream rang out just as Asume peaked around. Yamato was down at the opposite end of the hall framed by the bright red emergency sign behind him, tucking his gun back into its holster before bolting down the hall to the left.

"Fuck!" One of the guards was screaming from the ground, clutching his shoulder while the other bolted down the hall after Yamato. Once the other was out of sight, Asuma took the chance and hurried up to the other figure and quickly cuffed one of their hand, dragging them to the closest door and cuffing them up. The guy was screaming loudly in pain, yelling, "who the fuck are you?! Sasori!"

Yamato, on the other hand was running at full speed. He ran until he found where the fourth floor overlooked the slots floor and vaulted over the rail to hang down, planning on swinging himself over to the third floor. A hand snapped out and ripped him down onto the third floor, smacking his head on the rail as he fell before he could see the two other men in suits who were standing over him.

Sasori was above them now, looking down and frowning.

"Don't worry. We'll take it from here." Hidan grinned as he leaned over the rail and waved up. Kakuzu was already picking at the unconscious body.

"Sasori!" The distant scream from Deidara echoed to them.

"We'll take care of him," Hidan called as a stoic Sasori started back the way he came.

"Shit," Kakuzu had taken out the wallet from Yamato's pocket. He was quickly dragging Yamato up and throwing the limp body over his shoulder. "We need to get out of here now."

"What?" Hidan snapped. "The party hasn't even started yet."

"This, my idiot friend, is detective Yamato." Kakuzu explained slowly as they made their way down the hall. "He has keycards for the Konoha pd which means he is the detective probably in charge of finding us and throwing us into prison."

"Ahn, I see where you're headed. You, my good friend, are quite the mastermind."

"Thank you."

* * *

The room shuddered again with a loud scream and Iruka steadied himself against the trembling that was even more intense than the last. He was beginning to feel dizzy again. The loud noise made him almost throw up but the fear that clutched his stomach made it impossible.

Looking up with hazy eyes, he saw Itachi pull out a long pointed dagger from his sleeve. He was still with his back to Iruka, waiting and watching the flames as the flames grew higher and higher, blackening the ceiling.

All at once, Iruka heard a noise to both his left and right. There was a clatter in the bathroom but he turned towards the main doors that slammed open. With his gun at the ready, Asuma slipped into the room and Iruka felt relieved to see a friendly face.

"Asuma!" He called against the loud screaming just as a loud blast from the hall shook the room. Itachi had glanced over to the door as well but ignored Asuma. Instead, he was starting at the door Asuma came through.

Where was Asuma's backup? The thought crossed Iruka's mind and a dread filled him. He couldn't move. Even as a bloody and ragged figure came into the doorway to grab Asuma's collar, they all were standing still.

With a flash of hot white that made everyone blind from light instead of the darkness before it, the figure exploded. Iruka was thrown back onto the marble floor and had the wind knocked out of him.

For a moment, he was out of it and in a daze. A ringing was in his head. The last bit on feeling on his register was pain: a sparkling of both ache and stinging across his ribcage. It brought him back into the world and he was able to open his eyes to the fog of dust and smoke around him. He saw his hands and the floor first. Then the trails of blood on the floor and the remnants of the chair. Still in slow motion, he struggled to sit up and the pain in his side sucked him back into his own mind and he finally looked around the room. Itachi had been pushed into the pool of blood and was struggling to stand. Iruka couldn't see Obito's body anywhere. The ceiling had been blown open in three different places and rain was beginning to trickle in along with the water from the exposed sprinkler pipes.

The main doors were splinters and pieces all over the room while pieces of wall and floor and been blasted away to reveal the support beams below and even parts of the room under them.

There was blood everywhere.

"Iruka," Kakashi was sliding his under Iruka's arms and trying to pull him up until he could wrap an arm around the other man's waist but Iruka's legs were giving out. "Iruka, Iruka you need to listen and hear what I'm saying."

Hazy eyes looked to him and seemed to register the mask, blinking.

The Scarecrow was tall and thin just like the rumours said. Throwing a weak arm around the vigilante, Iruka found purchase on the other shoulder where the cape connected to the shoulder plate.

He was able to maneuver Iruka onto his feet finally and slid the hand under Iruka's other arm down to his waist only to have Iruka shrink away.

"Shit," he moved his hand lower but the pain was almost blinding and Iruka had to step away a bit on shaky legs, still within the Scarecrow's arms.

Kakashi let Iruka breathe for a few moments. He watched the sweat on Iruka's forehead bead down, gripping the hand on his shoulder tightly. He had to get Iruka out of here. Looking up and around the horror site around them, he jolted and quickly moved to step in front of Iruka and block him from the figure standing in the door.

It was the kid. The kid in black who said Itachi would die tonight.

He flicked his eyes to Itachi who despite being drenched and blood splattered, had picked himself up off the floor and was looking over at the kid too. Standing straighter, he loosened his tie and said, "go, he's not here for you."

"I know." Kakashi said but didn't move. Itachi looked over at them.

"It's a nice thought that you're trying to look out for me, Scarecrow, but Umino needs medical attention. I don't think any of us can afford to lose him now." The words were quick and to the point but Kakashi didn't move yet. Iruka was gripping his cape and around his waist for balance and he could hear his pants loud even though Iruka's forehead was pressed against his back and clear but he didn't want to leave yet. He wanted Obito's body.

"Or maybe you'd rather lose all that valuable intelligence-"

"Itachi," Iruka warned but Kakashi had already caught onto what Itachi was saying and how it confirmed his long-time suspicions. Obito's body could wait.

The figure by the door was slowly stepping through the rubble towards Itachi and Kakashi quickly moved back to Iruka's side. He tried to move them as quick as he could through the mess but Iruka still caught sight of the gore along the floor and the wall.

"Asuma," he breathed and Kakashi only moved faster.

They hurried down the hall and the sprinklers suddenly shut off.

"Backup," Iruka panted and Kakashi pulled them around the corner only to stop. Sasori's body was lying in the middle of the hallway facedown in his own blood. With no words, they continued on, carefully avoiding the body and following the glowing emergency exit signs. They struggled down the stairs until the first floor. Through slot machines they could see the flashing lights of police cars, ambulances and fire trucks.

"You should go." Iruka mumbled as they reached the doors and Kakashi only nodded, leaving Iruka propped up against the door to walk out on his own. Backing up and away from the doors, he watched Iruka push open the door with his good side to be greeted by eager officers.

He watched with a relieved pain before burying back and grappling up to the fourth floor. He heard voice searching the floors below and gathered he only had about a minute and a half before they would sweep Itachi's room.

He skidded to a halt in front of the hole that was the doors to Itachi's room. It was just as it had been before but now there was a body lying in the middle: Itachi's.

There was a knife deep in his chest and he seemed already dead. Fists clenching, Kakashi stepped over to the pool where Obito had been lying before and found no body.

* * *

The sirens had stopped but the lights were still going even now, long after they had sweeped and closed off the building. The news crews had already set up and some were already shooting the front entryway, talking about the 'tragic' and 'horrible' circumstances of the casino fire and more news to come. They weren't making any statements yet and probably would ignore them until the next day where Iruka would have to have a press conference.

But Iruka wasn't thinking about any of that. He wasn't thinking of anything really. He was just… Being.

The images wouldn't leave his head; all the blood and body parts. He had even seen a piece of uniform and it disturbed him deeply. How could he be there and gone in an instant?

At the back of the ambulance, he dropped his face into his hands and hid from everything. He was glad that they had backed it in so that the front of the truck was facing the reporters and all the other people behind the barricades.

He was so tired. He felt like his body would give out at any second and his mind was no different.

"Iruka!"

He was about to fall apart.

"Iruka!"

His eyes drifted up and he saw Kakashi at the orange barricades, held up by a distraught Izumo who was trying to tell Kakashi to calm down. What surprised Iruka is that Kakashi indeed didn't look calm. Dark circles under his eyes and hair even more a mess than usual, Kakashi's business suit was missing the coat and tie. Even his white shirt was rumpled and rolled up at the sleeves.

When his eyes found Iruka's, there was a sag to his shoulders and Iruka shivered.

Izumo looked over at him and he gave a small wave of his hand. He would have laughed at how Kakashi simply zipped passed Izumo before the officer had a time to explain protocol and jogged over to the ambulance where Iruka stood slowly.

"Hey-Mm!" He suddenly had arms around his shoulder pulling him in close and he froze.

"You're okay." Kakashi said in unexpected relief into his ear. Iruka's heart was suddenly in his chest and he struggled to hold back but they were already dripping into Kakashi's shoulder.

"Kakashi," he choked out and gripped his back tightly, feeling a hand rubbing over his back and just holding him. "Fuck."

Rubbing his face in Kakashi's shirt, he pulled back and straightened himself but Kakashi didn't pull back like he expected and he found himself staring at Kakashi's collarbones, shivering as he mumbled, "thank you."

"Just glad you're okay." The arm draped over his shoulder and the other cradling the back of his head didn't move. "And you say you're worried about me. Hypocrite."

When there was no response, Kakashi finally pulled back and let his arms hang by his sides, "sorry."

"Didn't mind."

Iruka was so quiet and they sat on the ambulance together for a few minutes before and officer Kakashi didn't recognize came up to them and told Kakashi that he couldn't stay long. Iruka was about to say that Kakashi was fine but he was beaten to the punch.

"Sorry, I'm his ride home," Kakashi said with confidence as Iruka was left dumbfounded.

"Good," the officer nodded and turned to Iruka. "Dispatch gave an ETA of about five minutes on Shiranui, sir."

"Thank you, Ebisu."

He nodded and hurried off, letting Iruka and Kakashi sit together for a second. Shifting closer, Kakashi asked, "are you hurt?"

"Hmm?" Looking up from the floor, their eyes met and the younger man nodded slightly.

"A bit." He slid a hand up to hover over his side. "Bruise from back with Kyuubi got flared up. Almost broke another rib."

While Iruka explained, Kakashi studied the new change of clothes and really look at him. The ponytail was limp from being wet and barely holding on. The workout clothes that had been splattered with blood and dust were gone and replaced by KPD emblazoned jogging pants, shirt and jacket. The flip flops were a nice touch.

More people came by to give Iruka little bits of information here and there. Some of them gave Kakashi odds looks but he ignored them and stayed right next to Iruka. The paramedic came by once more to give Iruka a water bottle. They had to step off the ambulance when a body bag was rolled out on a gurney out of the main entrance for the paramedics to load it up, another following after into a different ambulance.

"Umino." A soft voice made them turn and Iruka shook the man's hand.

"Nice to see you again, Genma."

"You too, commissioner." There was a smile on Genma's face that was understanding and warm. It made even Kakashi feel welcome. "Fill me in?"

"Mhm," Iruka hadn't even cracked a smile and looked over at KAkashi who turned and stepped away but not out of earshot. "Deidara and Sasori of the Akatsuki abducted me from my home last night. Up until a few hours, I was kept in an unknown basement. They took me here after meeting up with Konan, Nagato and Obito Uchiha to meet with Itachi and Kisame. Itachi commenced a ritual of some sort while Sasori and Deidara, the only ones left, guarded the doors. As it was coming to a climax, there was a scream outside I think and then Asuma entered the room. Deidara was apparently cuffed to the door of a closet down the hall and used his explosives to blow off his arm and escape. He then came up behind Asuma and…"

There was a pause where Genma nodded. "And then the Scarecrow showed up and helped you out right? Sorry, I mean, you got out."

They exchanged looks and Iruka nodded, "yeah. Itachi was left behind just as another figure came in. They didn't seem like Akatsuki at all. On the way out, we found Sasori's body. By the looks of it, the other officers were saying it looked like the same blade in Itachi's chest."

"So we can assume the kid did it, right?"

Iruka nodded. "Detective Yamato is still missing."

"Thank you, commissioner. I'll take it from here." Genma patted Iruka's shoulder and called over a few officers to escort them to Kakashi's car.

Once inside, Kakashi quickly started it up and they were off. The glow from the streetlights guided them downtown and away from the mess. Iruka stayed quiet and Kakashi didn't want to break whatever he was going through. He knew what grief felt like and he wanted to give Iruka a clean break. This was a process that they both had been through before and one that would undoubtedly happen again.

Iruka didn't say a word as they pulled into the underground parking of Kakashi's building. He was even more quiet on the way up in the elevator.

"Here's a towel and there's some extra shampoo in the cabinet." Kakashi was saying as he pulled out the towel from under the sink. "I'll go get you something to sleep in."

Hurrying to his bedroom and back, he walked in to find Iruka sitting on the edge of the tub with silent tears streaming down his face.

With a deep breath, he walked in passed Iruka and set the clothes down on the sink, giving Iruka's shoulder a quick squeeze as he closed the door behind him.

He went to turn on the tv and turn the volume up to the max it could go.

Iruka needed to be alone.

* * *

Did Iruka want coffee?

Kakashi was standing in his kitchen, staring at the small assortment of teas and little packets he had accumulated over the years. He wasn't really a warm beverage kind of guy but maybe Iruka was.

Maybe tea? He mainly had peppermint for when his stomach was upset and a few herbal ones that he found tasted like water.

There hadn't really been any guests in this apartment yet. At least, those he had never stayed longer than a few hours. It was mainly business meetings in his office.

It was Tuesday now. Gai had already called and said that he'd take care of today of him and he was thankful to have such a good friend and coworker. His mind drifted to Asuma and Iruka and he couldn't help but feel both guilty and grateful.

He felt more guilty than anything though. Especially about Kurenai. He was the one that pretty much put her in charge of the system.

"Hey," Iruka was in the doorway across the aisle from him, scratching the back of his head. He was in the shirt and pants Kakashi had given him last night; Kakashi's. The dark circles under Iruka's eyes weren't as deep and his hair was undone; bangs tousled on his forehead and the rest fluffy and grazing his shoulders.

"Hey," he said back, trying not to seem as mesmerized as he felt by seeing Iruka's hair down for the first time.

He skipped asking if Iruka had slept well. "Coffee? Tea? Water?"

"Coffee would be really good." Iruka pulled out one of the island chairs and watched Kakashi move around the kitchen with his chin in his hand. Once the water was set to heat, they faced each other and Iruka couldn't help but ask, "nice place."

"Thanks," they were both studying the kitchen. "I knew the contractor from work so I asked him for a few extra things."

"Like the pasta arm?"

They both looked at the stove. "Is that what that's called?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Iruka smirking for a brief moment. "Yeah, they're not usually in bachelor pads though."

"Yeah, I wasn't really careful with the… Accoutrements. It's designed to be eco-friendly and y'know, fireproof"

"Now that makes more sense."

Kakashi smiled at the cupboard and nodded. "Yeah… You don't have to go in today, right?"

After a deep breath and looking over and out the windows, Iruka slowly started, " I don't have to. Not yet, at least, they're planning his funeral."

"Already?"

"Jewish," Kakashi nodded slowly. "His dad's taking care of it. What time is it?"

"Um, about eleven I think."

The silence that followed was broken by the kettle turning itself off and Kakashi brought over the water and the small coffee packets he'd gotten a while ago.

"You just pour them both in and wait a few minutes. Hopefully, they're still good."

Following Kakashi's instructions, Iruka made his coffee and studies the packet as Kakashi poured himself a small cup of peppermint tea. "Haven't expired yet."

"Good, good." He put the kettle back on it's cradle and cupped his coffee, uneasy but asking anyway, "we can stay in and watch something. Order food and just… Relax."

"I haven't done that since the academy. Sounds nice." That response felt like a step towards normalcy.

Breakfast was very basic and consisted of toast and eggs. It was noon by the time they took a tour of the apartment.

"So this is the office where I basically goof off and procrastinate."

"So, not where the magic happens?" Iruka gave him a smile that was infectious; the second real smile of the day.

"No, not really at least. This next one is the… Lounge? I don't really know what to call it really. I mostly use it for meetings and when I need to impress." They had peeked into the room filled with bookcases; the same room he kept his suit hidden away for the scarecrow.

"Magic?"

"Huh? Oh, I mean, kinda. I usually tinker in here and read when I get the chance."

Iruka clucked and walked off with Kakashi following. "This is the half bath and well… You've already seen the master and the master bath."

Grinning, Iruka sauntered in, "so this is where the real magic happens."

Feeling a blush creep up his cheeks, Kakashi struggled to answer, "I mean, yes but probably not in the way you're implying."

"Oh yeah?" The interested look Iruka gave him was smile inducing.

"Yeah, this is where I stay up very long nights on my laptop because I should be sleeping but I tend to work instead."

"Sounds like my office but the reverse."

Laughing together, Iruka padded back out of the room and slipped passed Kakashi just as the other man was saying, "well, you can always use my bed."

He stopped just passed him with his face turned away from the other man as he quietly said, "thanks."

Kakashi realized that the implications behind what he said were more on the sexual side and he wondered why he felt so embarrassed. It wasn't like they hadn't… He ignored the memories floating back up and moved on towards the living room. "Anyway, I've got Netflix if maybe you want to watch a movie or something."

Not much of a subject change, he realized but Iruka smiled thinly at him and said, "I'm not much of a movie guy but we could always watch a show or something."

"Sure. Anything you've been watching or…?" He was about to say 'or something' again but stopped himself and wondered what that entailed.

"I have a few shows I've started but I've probably forgotten everything by now." They were about to sit down on the couch when Iruka suggested through the tense atmosphere, "Actually, do you have a gym nearby? I usually workout in the morning and um… Feels weird not to."

"Yes," Kakashi confidently hopped to the front door and pulled out a fob. "Roof. I think I've got… Athletic wear."

Iruka was already in his room going through his clothes and he sat on the couch for a moment before Iruka came right back out in a pair of old jogging pants he forgot he even owned.

"You said roof?"

"Yeah," he held out the black chip and waited until the door closed behind Iruka to sigh in relief. He needed a cold shower.

* * *

After his shower, it was a curiously long time before he began to wonder if Iruka's workout sessions were hours long. The gym upstairs wasn't big either; just a few machines and a weight rack. He was debating heading up after starting a third movie when Iruka walked in.

"Hey," standing from the couch, Kakashi watched Iruka closely. Iruka's ponytail looked worn as if from a workout but if Iruka had sweat, it was gone now.

"I got a call." He looked unsettled, cradling his phone. "It was Asuma's dad. The funeral is tomorrow morning."

"That's soon."

"Yeah, I had to call the rest of the office and organize the guys at the office a bit." He moved to sit on the couch. "Kurenai hasn't picked up her phone yet."

"You think she's okay." Kakashi sat down next to him.

"I doubt it. Her partner died and she's carrying his baby. I don't know how she's handling it, if she if." He had his mouth in his hands, thinking out loud, "I don't know what I'd do if I was in her spot."

"Me neither."

They exchanged glances that were soft and sad before moving to hug each other.

"Let's get food." Kakashi murmured into Iruka's hair.

"I don't wanna go outside," was Iruka's soft complaint.

"We can get it delivered. Pizza? Chinese?"

Iruka looked up at him and studied his face, making the area under his eyes burn. He watched Iruka's lips move as he said, "let's get what you like."

"Okay." He wanted to lean in and kiss Iruka but the timing didn't feel right. It would have been a kiss fueled by pain and grief. Hugging was enough contact; comforting and comfortable.

With Iruka squished up against his chest, he leaned back against the arm of the couch and started browsing around for options.

"I think pizza is good. What toppings do you want?"

Iruka hummed against his chest where he was scanning Kakashi's phone too. "Anything with meat is good. I like onions. Bell peppers are good too."

"How about onions and chicken?" He watched Iruka reach up and pull out his ponytail with a yawn.

"Mmm sounds good." There was a yawn and Iruka was fast asleep by the time he had ordered. Sleep didn't sound half bad either.

The sound of the buzzer ringing woke both of them up in a jolt almost an hour later and Kakashi scrambled to buzz the delivery guy in.

"Pizza's here." He said to a blurry-eyed Iruka who yawned again and patted the couch next to him.

"Two more minutes." He had his feet up on the couch and looked pretty darn sleepy but Kakashi resisted the urge; he would probably drop back asleep and miss the knock.

"He'll be here in a minute."

He got another yawn as a response, "we can always close our eyes for a bit and then have pizza."

"We won't get pizza if I don't open the door and pay for it." It was really hard to stay standing but he managed to walk away from the living room with the quirk of a smile.

He returned shortly with the hot box of food to find Iruka browsing movies and shows. It was a slow day from then on. They ate and talked and hung out like normal people and it felt so good to connect with another person like this.

Kakashi was in love. It was bad too. It wasn't something that had happened overnight either. This was a love in the making for years now and one that he had sitting in his heart for so long. After the mess that was yesterday and the things he knew now, he was even deeper into it then he thought. It had gone undisclosed and withheld for so long that he never had the hopes of even sitting on the same couch as Iruka.

Yet there they were. Iruka was slouched into a corner with a leg propped up on the couch while Kakashi sat against his chest and closed his eyes. Iruka didn't seem to mind at all.

It might have just been because they both craved human contact after losing a close friend but Kakashi soaked it in either way.

He was dozing off to the soft fall and rise of Iruka's chest when he felt Iruka's arms drop and cross over his chest. Keeping his eyes closed, he felt something in his hair. It was there for a brief moment and then it along with Iruka's arms were gone.

* * *

Asuma's funeral was a small event and Kakashi wasn't exactly invited so when Wednesday morning came, they had to untangle themselves and head to Iruka's home.

Iruka was already hopping up the steps to his apartment and unlocking it before Kakashi was even out of the car.

"I don't think that we should be really disturbing the crime scene." He piped up but Iruka stepped under the tape anyway and headed inside. At the front door, Kakashi waited until Iruka emerged again a few minutes later already in a black suit and tie. "That was quick."

Iruka smirked at him. "I'm good at putting on clothes."

"You're not bad at taking them off either." Kakashi involuntarily quipped as they hopped back in the car, earning a glare. "Sorry."

Once they reached the cemetery, Kakashi parked the car and watched Iruka fix his suit in the mirror. "Can you get the guys to at least come check out your place tonight?"

"I'll try. We'll be pretty busy though." Iruka fixed his cuffs before looking at KAkashi and saying with a small, sincere smile. "Thank you, Kakashi. Really, you don't know how much it helps that you're around."

"You can stay another night." Kakashi offered.

"I wish. I've got a lot of work to catch up on today. A lot of things need to be done."

"True," the moment was heavy after that until Iruka gave him a full smile and started backing away.

"Still up for that date?"

"Of course."

"Good." Iruka turned and was about to walk off when he turned back. "Wait!"

Kakashi looked back and Iruka was holding out his phone; a new phone that was sleek and black instead of the previous one. Looking up, Kakashi was Iruka giving a quirk of his lips, "last one got kind of… Ruined and I, unfortunately, don't have a photographic memory."

* * *

Kakashi spent most of his day working. He had meetings with Gai and Kana, working on technical conversions and writing up mock contracts to send to the lawyers of the companies interested. It wasn't much of a difference from their Germany deal so they took it a bit more easier than before.

Over at the police department, Iruka was not taking it as easy. Still wearing his black suit, he had to hurry as quick as he could from where they had been emptying out Asuma's office to lock himself in the bathroom. Panting and heaving, he undid the buttons on his jacket to breathe better but couldn't. With his hands on the counter, he was leaning away from it and trying his best not to cry but the floor under him was already wet.

"Fuck," with shaky hands, he leaned against a wall and pulled out his phone. His finger hovered over the call button but stopped himself. He didn't want them to hear him crying; sobbing really was a better word.

'Hey,' he texted instead. Letting his hand drop to his thigh, he let his head fall back against the tile and focused on breathing. In and out, he tried to think of somewhere calm and warm but was having trouble with the jerks of breath his body wanted to take. Less than a minute later, his phone buzzed and he immediately checked it.

'Hey, how's it going?' Iruka felt relieved.

'Not the greatest.' He wanted to ask if he could stay another night but held back. 'Are you free tomorrow night?'

'Yeah, want to grab dinner?'

'Yes, please.'

'Cool, what time do you think you'll get off work?'

'Hopefully seven. I'll let you know if anything comes up.'

'Sounds good. See you then.'

He wanted to respond but didn't know how.

* * *

The night air was cooling against his cheek and he closed his phone, looking out of the city of Konoha; his city.

The tall skyscrapers laying out the city below like a pathway of colourful lights. An occasional honk would break the atmosphere but street were generally quiet in an eerie way. Everything hung in their air as if waiting for something. It felt like the night before a disaster.

"Commissioner." Iruka didn't move his eyes from the buildings and and highways in the distance.

"Didn't think you'd come."

He didn't bother looking over at the buzzing voice; he's seen the costume enough and knew the weird static voice that came from the mask. It said, "didn't expect the commissioner himself."

Pocketing the same phone from Asuma's undercover cruiser, Iruka stood and hummed, "so do you start or do I?"

"Usually, you're the one to start," the voice said pointedly and Iruka turned to look at the blank mask. He wished he could see beyond the dark holes that let the Scarecrow see him.

"Do I?" Was Iruka's careful question.

"Maybe not as the commissioner," the was a pause before the Scarecrow finally spoke. "Cat."

After another long gaze at the city, Iruka turned and let himself give a cat-like smirk with a small huff, "nothing gets passed you, I see."

"I'm pretty sharp."

"Good." Iruka's face dropped and he turned back to the lights. "I need your help."

"As always." Iruka shot him a look as the tall man came to stand close by.

"I'm asking as the commissioner of Konoha."

The request was left to hang in the air before the Scarecrow nodded and asked, "how can I help?"

"I can't protect this city anymore." Crossing his arms, he let his eyes fall to the ground. "My detective is missing and the city is in panic. I need someone who's not in the limelight to poke around and… Do something."

"Is the Cat retiring?"

Iruka looked over at Kakashi and gave a soft smile. "Not yet. Just taking a vacation."

Reaching down towards a vent, Iruka pulled out the slim laptop that Yamato had used only a few days before and handing it over to the Scarecrow who looked at it before tucking it up into compartment on his back.

"I loaded up everything from Yamato's laptop onto there. Hopefully, there's something useful on there." He started to walk back towards the roof door when he paused and looked with the most genuine stare. "Thank you."

With a nod, Kakashi watched Iruka swipe himself back into the Konoha PD building.

* * *

He had to give credit where credit was due. Yamato was a damn fine detective. A detective with access to almost every database known to man. There were files about each and every member of the Akatsuki, their relatives and even their friends' second cousins.

Kakashi sat at the desk in his office reading for most of the night. It didn't take long to find pieces of information that filed in the blanks.

Sasuke Uchiha; Itachi's younger brother and one fo the only other surviving Uchiha members. He found Obito's file too but he knew most of the information in there; Rin's death, hired to work for the Hatakes and even things that had happened long before he met Kakashi.

Ignoring the bloody pictures of Rin, he moved back to Sasuke's file and sifted through notes and pictures. The current profile photo was of a skinny, white boy with dark circles under his black eyes. He looked a lot like his brother. He was also the right height of the kid in black who Kakashi assumed had killed Itachi and Sasori.

There were long detailed files detailing how Sasuke had been admitted to a psychiatric ward when he was six and the many years that doctors had tried to rehabilitate him so that he could reintegrate into society. His state-given foster parents had taken him in a week ago. There hadn't been any reports on Sasuke being missing or any other information since then; not even an update on his account. Kakashi wondered what happened to the foster parents before going through other files.

Orochimaru was another huge suspect that Yamato had extensive files on; another member of Akatsuki before it disbanded. There were details about when they found him experimenting with age-defying beauty treatments and the secret lab. There was no mention of the Scarecrow's first appearance which had made the news within seconds. Orochimaru had been locked up under high-security quarantine at Gedo until a week or so ago.

Flipping down the laptop, Kakashi sat in thought as he tried to piece everything together; the facts he knew first.

The Akatsuki were back together was a certainty. Obito, Sasuke and Iruka were there as well on Monday night. Iruka and Obito were brought to be used in some way. Sasuke's goal had been to kill Itachi and he succeeded. Did he oppose what they were trying to do? No, that would mean he was part of the Akatsuki or at least sided with them and, if that were the case, he wouldn't have killed Itachi. It had been planned. Sasuke had planned to kill his brother. But why? Why kill one of the only members left of his family? Why not Obito?

He got up, padded to his office and was pulling up the footage from Deidara's first attack when it dawned on him. Was it out of revenge?

Alongside the footage from the attack, he pulled up Monday night's footage too and started to replay what he had seen from his watch in the air duct.

 _"Skip the protocol, Itachi. Talk to me."_ A line Iruka had said. They were close. Kakashi had known that the Cat was close to Itachi since they traded information; Itachi knew Iruka was the Cat too.

But why would Itachi keep that to himself? To blackmail information from the police department? Was Iruka a mole? It didn't seem likely and the video kept playing back until Iruka said, _"Is this why you killed them all?"_

Kakashi felt himself hang in the air for a second. Itachi did do it. He killed his family. He murdered them and Iruka knew it. The reason none of them told on each other was because they had dirt on the other. And Sasuke had killed Itachi out of revenge. But why did Itachi kill them? And why not Obito and Sasuke?

From what had transpired Monday night, it seemed as though Obito had a bigger part in all of this then he could grasp at the moment.

Orochimaru. Obito. They only really had one person in common; Madara. He had to tell Iruka.

* * *

Iruka was standing at his bathroom mirror, staring at the mess he was. One eye was bloodshot, he was still in his mourning clothes and his hair was a mess. There were two options for him today: stay at home and let Genma take care of everything while he laid in bed and cried his brains out or he could pull himself together and get something done today.

As much as he wanted to lay in bed and weep, his brain and heart told him that it was better if the city didn't burn down just yet.

"Okay, let's go." He smacked his hands on his cheeks and quickly got out of his clothes to shower.

After an hour, he was back at the mirror again to fix his tie. He was looking normal again with his ponytail sharp and his dark circles not so dark. After changing, he hoped back to his steamy bathroom and started brushing his teeth. Mid-brush, he noticed a figure sitting on his window sill and tensed. He was about to whirl around to swing with the bat when the white mask came into view. He finished brushing.

"Why am I not surprised to see you in my bathroom?" When he asked, the Scarecrow cocked his head and shrugged.

"Do you usually have weird men in your bathroom, commissioner?"

"Only the good ones. What's up?" Iruka leaned against the counter and crossed his arms.

"I think that maybe I know what the Akatsuki's goal is… Was." There was a crack to the buzz and the Scarecrow waved away at the steam near his neck. Iruka waited for him to go on, "resurrection. Through Obito Uchiha; the capsule that housed Madara's soul."

"Housed…" Iruka rubbed his face. "So… Obito had Madara's soul inside of him."

"Not a far stretch. They're a very religious and traditional family. Wouldn't be a surprised. Like a disease passed down through genes."

"That… Makes way too much sense." Iruka commented slowly. There were lines of trouble on Iruka's face; a bit of suspicion at the back of his neck. "How did you come to this conclusion?"

There was a shrug. "Family records. Internet. The fact that they kidnapped you instead of some random Joe."

"Wait… What?"

The mask lifted and stared at him. "They were going to put his soul into you."

* * *

Locking up tight, Iruka hopped down the steps and ignored the odd feeling that accompanied walking to the subway. He got to work almost half an hour earlier than normal which was still an hour earlier than everyone else and he locked himself in his office to stare at the large map of the city on the wall behind his desk. It was technically a white board that he had specifically made a year or two ago to help visually distribute the workload easier.

Now, he got busy at updating evacuation routes and was halfway done by the time Genma stopped by. "Great message. I think we've come up with something."

They stepped into the main conference room where other officers were shuffling around files and looking tense.

"So," Genma stood at the head of the table, looking over the map they had laid out with different markers placed all over. "Using both Hatake feeds and with the help of the fire department and the Housing Association, we've cleared all apartment buildings on the east side and the north."

There were splotches of green, red, yellow and grey all along the map with more grey and green than red but there were a few red dots along the map that Iruka recognized; the Mangekyou, the theatre, his own home. Red looked like confirmed hotspots while greens were cleared. Genma pointed to a few yellow dots peppered around the map.

"All these are bunkers we've cleaned and prepped for use just in case to keep civilians safe; fully stocked and ready to go thanks to Kuma and Mizu." Iruka was nodding along and watching as Genma moved his hand over to a red dot. "Figure in black walked into this shop about an hour ago. Used cash but matched Obito's description."

"It's a suit store." Kotetsu provided as he flashed the storefront on his phone. "Tip was given by a concerned patron who wishes to remain anonymous. They saw a kid with him."

With his mouth pressed to his fist, Iruka hummed and stepped in front of the map when Genma moved out of the way. He pulled his hand away to look at everyone in the room. "We need to continue preparing for the worst. We all saw what the Kyuubi can do on his good days. Now, we're dealing with a person who is dangerous on a whole new level."

"Brainwashing," Genma said softly and the room fell still.

* * *

Picking up his phone, Kakashi checked the number and tapped the voice-changing choker from around his neck to turn it off. "Hello?"

"Ahn! Mr. Hatake! Thank you so much for answering. I'm so sorry if this is a bad time." It was a soft-voiced woman on the other end. He didn't recognize the number either.

"No, this is a good time," he shifted on Iruka's couch. "Who is this?"

"Great! I'm Shizune from the Gedo mental and physical health institution and I was calling to see if you had any contact with Mr. Iruka Umino."

"Yes," he said slowly, feeling cautious. "What's this about?"

"He hasn't been answering the cellphone on file and we were wondering if you could ask him to give us a call back; it's not terribly urgent but Naruto has been… Difficult."

"Ahn, I'll let him know but he has been very busy and he might not be able to talk for a while… How did you get this number?" There was a pause while the woman ruffled through some papers.

"You're his secondary emergency contact. Well, primary now."

"I am?" There was a swell in his chest.

"Yes, I hope it's okay if we move you to his primary."

"Yes, yes, please do. Hey, since Iruka is busy, how about I come down to Gedo and talk to Naruto a bit in the meantime. I know how close they are and I think maybe I could calm him down."

The woman on the end sighed happily and said quickly, "yes, please, that would be such a great help."

* * *

"Thank you again, Mr. Hatake." Shizune was smiling at him gratefully as she led him down white halls with tall ceiling. He had only ever been to Gedo once and it hadn't been a pleasant experience. Repressing those memories, Kakashi slid his hands into his pockets and nodded.

"No problem. I've been meaning to meet Naruto anyway." He mused, "Iruka speaks so highly of him."

"He does?" Shizune's smile grew wistful and she looked at the file in her hands before seeming to decide something. "It makes sense. He could ask about the adoption process if he didn't."

"Adoption?"

"Mhm. It was just a few questions but I think he really is considering it."

Huffing to himself, Kakashi realized he wasn't as surprised as he thought. This was probably why Iruka had asked him about family. Was it for advice; a second opinion that he never really got? Or had Iruka been studying him… But why?

It didn't make sense in his mind but he shook his questions away to focus on going through a secondary clearance. Once through, Shizune instructed, "he isn't exactly calm right now but I think a new face will at least faze him for a bit. If you need help, we'll be right outside."

"Thank you," he nodded to Shizune as she opened the door for him and stepped passed into a parse room. In the corner, there was a tv with a gaming console hooked up to it with all its cables tucked away neatly. The only other pieces of furniture were a table and two chairs. At the table, a little blond boy was perched and waiting as if he had just shot up from a nap.

As the door closed behind him, Kakashi kept his eyes locked onto Naruto's as they watched him move to sit across from him.

There was no talking for a long time before Naruto finally asked, "how did you get the scar?"

"I had a very nasty cat when I was a kid."

Naruto frowned. "You can't be that stupid."

"Maybe I'm not."

"Do you think I'm stupid enough to fall for a lie like that." There was a growl from Naruto that Kakashi ignored.

"Do you know why I'm here?"

Naruto was watching him suspiciously, analysing his every move. "Are you here to test me? Like all the other doctors."

With a chuckle, Kakashi corrected, "no, I'm not a doctor. I'm a very good friend of Iruka's."

"What's your name?" Naruto's eyes were slitted.

"Kakashi."

"Eh? Kakashi?" Surprisingly, the suspicion faded away and he looked stunned. "Uh… What name did… Hatamoo? Kakashi Hatamoo?"

"Hatake."

"Whatever. So, you're the one that bullies Iruka at work, aren't you?" There was a fire in Naruto's eyes that left Kakashi still.

"What? Bully?" He was thoroughly confused. Did iruka think he was bullying him? What? That didn't make any sense. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Then why do you always barge into his office and pull his hair?" That accusatory gaze made Kakashi twitch.

"I don't pull his hair." After a thought, he said slowly, "well, maybe I do. A little."

"And you always man his handle!" It was said without a shred of hesitation.

"You mean manhandle."

"Yes! That's the word my brain was thinking."

Peering at the boy, Kakashi rubbed a hand over his mouth. Was he referring to all the times he would hug Iruka? Or maybe he meant a more specific incident. Kakashi thought back to that one time he was sitting in Iruka's chair and pulled Iruka down to sit on his lap. In the moment, Kakashi's intentions had been pure of course. He simply wanted iruka to sit after a long day of work but he hadn't thought it through, especially with their history and the setting. Iruka had stood up immediately. There may have been a slap involved.

"Do you know what that means?" He couldn't help but smirk a bit.

Frozen in place, the boy ground out a shake for no.

"Good." Kakashi stood and walked over to the tv, looking at the assortment of games at the ready as he said nonchalantly. "I'm here because I'm Iruka's friend. And we are friends."

Naruto slowly closed his mouth from almost interrupting. Slowly, he started to come to his own conclusion as to why Kakashi was there. "Wait… Don't tell me… Iruka..."

Kakashi looked back to find the boy struggling with his emotions; fear, anger and horror dancing across his face. Putting a hand on the boy's shoulder, he smiled softly and said, "he's alright."

The pure relief and slump of shoulders was astonishing. Naruto was on the verge of tears. "He is? Is he really? I saw the news and they were saying someone died."

"His name was Asuma." Kakashi paced from the table again. "He was a very good friend of Iruka's which is probably why he hasn't talked to you yet. He probably feels like he failed. That he wasn't good enough. Have you ever felt that way?"

There was a small hum of agreement where Naruto was slumped against the table; arms crossed and mouth pressed against them.

"He'll come and visit when he can." Kakashi was walking out. "Once he knows he can keep us safe."

"Why did you come?" The question was posed as one that asked why him in specific and Kakashi paused with his hand on the door. He answered truthfully before walking out. "He always speaks so fondly of you. I have to meet them if someone so amazing spoke so highly of them."

As he walked out, he heard an aggravated shout, "oi! If you're trying to be cool, it's not working!"

* * *

"Your tip was really nice. Thanks." Iruka said as he passed by the Scarecrow slouched on his couch.

Looking up from the book that Iruka was sure had been in his bedroom, the buzz of voice said, "that's unusual coming from an officer of the law but I do like being praised for my body parts."

With his hand on the counter, Iruka froze and slowly turned his head to find that plain white mask staring back at him from over the back of the couch and he tried to hold back the smirk that was crawling onto his lips. "I'm going to ignore that since you and I both know what I'm talking about."

Turning back to his book, the vigilante nodded; seemed fair. A flick of his wrist and the book was on the seat next to him as he stood. "I'm sure that you'll use this information well."

"Already have," Iruka was pouring himself a glass of water at the sink. "We've got plans and protocols in place. We've even got a lead."

"Yeah?"

"Mhm." After a sip, Iruka leaned against the counter, facing the Scarecrow. He realized how tall the other man actually was. "He bought a suit."

"A suit?"

"At Nando's. Walked in with who we can only assume to be Sasuke Uchiha but never came back out." There was a pause.

"There's a tunnel under Nando's. It leads out of town; towards the trainyards."

Rubbing his face, Iruka hummed. "You think they're planning something at the trainyards?"

"Or planning on taking a train."

Iruka quickly pulled out his phone and started seeing what was beyond the trainyards.

"A bit of farmland before the forest hits and then it follows the water until…"

"The hydro plant." The Scarecrow was reading over his shoulder to Iruka's surprise and he jolted. "What do you think we should do?"

"Good question. I don't know what they're planning." Iruka hummed and started towards the stairs to get out of work clothes, think a bit and text Genma. "I should probably talk with Genma and the team first…"

His words trailed off and he swore. The Scarecrow cocked his head again and chuckled. "Out of battery?"

"No, I just… Shit, I'm supposed to go on a date." Iruka was tapping his phone quickly, erasing after almost every letter and swore again before he said, "forget it, I'll just call him."

'Shit indeed.' Kakashi thought to the back pocket on his belt that had his phone in it.

* * *

So, sinus infections aren't fun. Cranked this out and well, the next chapter is the last.

I might have to take a break for the Fest/this horrible

Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did writing.


	7. Cat

"No, I just… Shit, I'm supposed to go on a date." Iruka was tapping his phone quickly, erasing after almost every letter and swearing again before he said, "forget it, I'll just call him."

'Shit indeed.' Kakashi thought to the back pocket on his belt that had his phone in it.

If there was one thing that he could have done to get out of that situation, it wasn't coming to his mind. His brain had frozen in time and the rest of his body stayed just as still in an oddly calm manner.

He hadn't ever planned for anyone to know who he was least of all Iruka but he had planned for the worst. There was no way to erase someone's memory but he could always erase someone. He only ever had to do it once before and it had been many years ago. That man had been a faceless person with no family and no one to miss but Iruka was not a John Smith. In fact, he was the complete opposite in Kakashi's heart and he felt like time was in slow motion now that he couldn't do anything but wait. He had to stand there and let it happen.

It was as if his whole being had gone into acceptance mode, preparing for Iruka to stare at him and know exactly who was under that mask.

Vibrating. His back pocket was vibrating. There was a glimmer of hope. He wasn't that much of an idiot.

An excuse started to form on his lips when Iruka's head slowly turned to him, phone falling from his ear slowly. He was staring off into the distance as if listening for something and the glimmer of hope was gone again.

Kakashi watched Iruka's hand fall to his side and the other man turned slowly to face him with careful, wide eyes.

A tap of his thumb ended the call and the vibrations in Kakashi's pocket stopped.

He was so still but he could almost taste Iruka's budding realization on his skin.

Iruka's thumb redialed and the vibrations started again before Iruka stopped it.

With shoulders tense and hands clenching, Iruka hissed out, "you've gotta be shitting me."

"Iruka-" He was quickly cut off by the younger man sliding forward and reaching for him. Flinching away, Kakashi didn't stop him and waiting for his mask to come off.

After a quiet moment, he felt the hand slide behind his neck and his vocal changer clicked off.

Iruka stepped back with it in his fist as he crossed his arms and stared so deeply into the holes for Kakashi's eyes. Both now knew who they were beyond the masks.

"Iruka." He repeated softly and the reaction wasn't instant but it was there: the whole body tensing and brows pressing together in confused frustration. Shocking Kakashi, Iruka spun around and started up on the second floor to leave Kakashi gobsmacked. Iruka was back down with a backpack and stopped at the last stair.

"So, are we leaving or not?"

Kakashi jolted to the front door.

They drove and Iruka didn't say a word or meet Kakashi's eyes when he finally glanced over secretly. The younger man was blank and unseeing, fist pressed against his mouth. The drive seemed to last forever in agonizing silence.

There wasn't a sound between them until Kakashi turned into an alley, parked and held a button on the wrist of his suit. This wasn't the first time Iruka had been in his hideout but the last time had been as Cat and over five years ago.

The lights of the hideout slowly started to turn up to a warm, orange glow. From the car, they could see the many rows of equipment and the tables between them that Kakashi had commissioned. Behind them was the line of lots that multiple black slick cars were parked in. After each side of the tables and cars, the black tiles of floor stretched out into four long alleys that disappeared into the distance and up into the streets of Konoha. Backing the car up, Kakashi slid the non-descript black sedan into one of the empty lots at the end as Iruka unbuckled his seatbelt in anticipation. As soon as the car was parked, the younger man jumped out and took his bag with him. Watching Iruka stride over to the tables for a second, Kakashi stayed in the car.

The moment to himself was like a breath of fresh air and he slumped out of the tension he didn't know had bundled up in his shoulder and legs. Rubbing hands over his thighs in nervousness, he let out a breath to calm himself from his racing heartbeat. He couldn't think. There was nothing coming to his mind. The robot controlling him was telling him to get out of the car and start getting ready to go. They had to start moving. They had to make Konoha safe.

But he sat there instead for a moment to steady himself. He could have cursed his phone but he couldn't deny that this was only bound to happen. After spending years of fighting crime together and goofing off around the city when there was nothing else to do, they were now finally face each other clearly, without pretending. The proverbial mask between him and Iruka was gone. It was almost a relief. He doubted that Iruka had felt that same relief when the Scarecrow found out that he was the Cat.

He finally bit the bullet and dragged himself out of the car. As he took the long walk to the other side of the cavern, he could see Iruka running a hand across his face and ignoring the sound of Kakashi moving closer.

With his resolve strengthened, he stopped across the other side of the table. Iruka's eyes were finally on him as he passed into view. And he did something that he hadn't expected he would do that evening.

Slowly and with very deliberate movements, he reached up to pull down the hood of his short cloak. As it fell, Iruka's gaze never left him and watched intently. A click later and his white mask was pulled away to be set down on the table in front of him, pulling down the thin one underneath that went up to his nose.

The studying was the worst part, Iruka taking everything in. Kakashi knew his face was flushing so he kept his gaze down.

Iruka was taking in Kakashi's head on the Scarecrow's body and something seemed to click finally. Eyes softened and hands fell, Iruka turned away and leaned against the metal table to steady himself. He huffed softly, "guess I'm in your shoes now."

"I… Give me a second." Kakashi paused himself and swiftly moved around to the next aisle of shelves. He came back with an armful of fabric and straps. Slowly moving to the other side of the table, Kakashi placed the other suit on the table next to Iruka who sat up again to stare at it. "There wasn't a better time until now to give these to you."

At the confusion in the look Iruka gave him, he pushed the fabric across until it was in Iruka's hands. With slow movements, the first part of the suit was unfolded until the hood was freed. Where the fabric was supposed to curve for the hood, it continued to a point on both sides before meeting in the middle, imitating a pair of cat ears.

Hands tightening and thumbs caressing the thick but flexible material of the jacket, Iruka's shoulder fell.

"Thank you." It almost too soft for Kakashi to hear but he nodded. Iruka looked up at him with an indecipherable look. As Kakashi breathed, Iruka moved around to his side of the table and held out his vocal changer. The stare that Iruka looked at him with turned into a fond one with a matching smirk. "Guess we're even now."

Kakashi looked away to hide his blush and happy smile. After he brought over the matching boots, he left Iruka to suit up.

After collecting a pair of pistols and locking them into place on his hips along with a few other gadgets, he came back to find Iruka masked and almost ready. He was slowly learning how to clip the straps that ran around his waist, hips, and thighs. It was very similar to a military jumpsuit. At the calves, it was tighter and where the utility belt hugged his hips and around the thighs, it was loose but tied together with a climber's harness and straps that went over his shoulders and clipped together at his chest for extra support.

Iruka was lost in his own thoughts but did notice when the other man came around. As much as he wanted to stare and catalog every inch of that face, he tore his eyes down to try and compose himself.

This wasn't a priority right now.

Kakashi watched as Iruka pulled out Cat's mask from his bag and start to tie it just under his ponytail. Iruka tried not to pay any more attention and felt the other man walk off slowly, the heavy feeling on his chest lifting a little. He had thought Kakashi's presence before was intimidating now… It wasn't intimidating or uncomfortable just… Odd.

Then Iruka remembered Yamato. He remembered Asuma and he remembered Naruto.

A rolling burn formed in his chest. He found his nerve and grabbed a hold of it tightly.

Strapping on his heavy plating that was saved for special occasions, Kakashi came back to find Iruka reloading another standard issue pistol that was probably unmarked too.

"We can pass through a lot of the city as we head for the electrical plant. See what's going on outside a little." He was saying as he holstered the gun. When Iruka turned to Kakashi for a response, he ignored the odd pulse in his chest when he saw Kakashi pull up the collar of the bodysuit passed his nose and click the Scarecrow mask into place over it.

"Good idea."

It suddenly felt real but Iruka pretended like he didn't notice and stepped a bit back to look at the other shelves. "Need anything else?"

There was a soft no that had Iruka feeling that warmth again. It was the one that always accompanied Kakashi and always seemed to linger long after.

"Shall we then?" There was a small quirk of his lips, falling back into the Cat persona he had grown into.

With a nod, Kakashi led them to one of the vehicles as he clipped on his distortion collar again. Iruka noticed on the other end a familiar car that he remembered from the last time they went out into Konoha to deal with such a high threat. Bolted with plates of steel that had been spray-painted black, the car had seen better days and was peppered with long scratches and punctures. The second was a more casual; a sports car meant for racing and the one they were heading for.

As Kakashi got closer, the doors unlocked themselves and they were soon shifting into gear to whip passed the other vehicles and zip down one of the dark halls up to the city of Konoha. Sitting shotgun, Iruka could feel the tension streaming from both sides of the car and he took a deep breath.

This was okay.

They could do this. No matter what would come up and they really had no idea what was ahead of them.

He just wanted everyone to be safe; Naruto, Kurenai, Kakashi.

In the dark of the tunnel, the small lights zipping past them strobed against them and Iruka tried to ignore the other man's strong presence and think properly.

"How many others did you see?" Kakashi broke the ice first.

"As in Akatsuki?" Iruka tried to remember passed the blood, pain and Asuma's face that plague his guilty conscience. "There was Itachi but he's dead. You saw Sasuke was there too and Obito."

That thought caught on his mind and he realized that Kakashi had been there. He had been nearby when Obito died. A wonder formed in Iruka's chest when he remembered how Kakashi had been so cool and calm under such terrible circumstances. He was starting to settle into the comfortable feeling of not being alone.

"There was a man there too."

"Kisame." They were ramping up as Kakashi held a button and asked as they emerged out of a sudden opening onto the streets of Konoha, "works with Itachi, right?"

"Yup," Iruka could feel there was a question on Kakashi's lips and wondered if he wanted to ask how acquainted he and Itachi had been. Itachi had been Cat's informant after all. "There was also Deidara and Sasori. Sasori's dead now too. So that leaves Deidara, Kisame, and two others."

"And Madara."

Iruka looked over at the other man who didn't look back. "Yes, Madara. And Sasuke."

* * *

Sasuke was holding onto the last rung of the ladder tightly as most of the evacuation group finally passed overhead.

Once they were no longer within earshot, he pushed up hard against the grate and finally, it gave for him to slide off onto the floor. For once thanking his height, Sasuke crawled out of the very tight drain and into the clean and white halls of Gedo.

Madara wasn't there yet. This was good.

There were things he had to see for himself; things he had to do.

Hearing the sound of footsteps nearing, Sasuke quickly slid the drain back into place and quickly stalked down the hall away from them.

Rounding the corner, he sprinted down to a set of double doors and slipped in between them to hide. The new hall was empty and quiet to his relief.

Ever since Itachi's death, he hadn't stopped for a moment. Sasuke's original plan after dealing with Itachi was to turn himself into the police when they arrived but the plan had changed quickly. The Scarecrow had shown up and changed everything.

The lights flickered overhead and Sasuke pulled out the blood-stained piece of paper that he'd scribbled on a few hours before. He wasn't far.

Following the instruction he'd written down, Sasuke took the next right and found the air duct he'd been looking for. To his dismay, this one was an even tighter fit than the drain. After what felt like an eternity of wiggling and shimmying, he was finally looking out into a dark hall.

There were no guards or anyone else there. The lights stayed dark as Sasuke slowly made his way down the white concrete hall until he came to another corner and peeked around it. There were two doors on this hall, one on each side, and another set of double doors at the end; ones that had keypads and many locks on them. It was surprising how such a high-security area had little to no guards. His goal should be around here.

After a moment of scouting, he was about to step out and peek into one of the doors when the click of a lock made him quickly backtrack around the corner.

Standing still, he listened long enough to wonder if he had even heard the noise and peak around the corner again. Soon enough, the door on the right slowly creaked open and a head poked itself out. Sasuke only had time to glimpse pink before he had to duck away out of sight. The door creaked shut and the padding of feet echoed to Sasuke. They didn't seem to be coming his way and he stole another glance at the little figure reached the door across. There was a moment of clicks and ticks before the other door finally unlocked and the figure slipped inside.

Was that an inmate?

Curious, Sasuke took the chance and slid along the wall to the door the figure had come from. The little window in the door showed a very plain bedroom with a chalkboard and a bookcase filled to the brim. Under the window, a small plaque in very plain black writing said 'Sakura'.

He turned to the other door, saw a similar plaque and thanked his luck when he read the name. In approaching, he saw a book shoved between the door and the frame to keep it open and used the crack to peek inside. This room was even barer but at least had a bed and a desk. There was a small, old television on a corner of the desk that was playing what looked like the news and a small stack of books next to it.

Sasuke could see now that the pink haired figure was a small girl, presumably named Sakura. They were both wearing the same jumpsuit that Sasuke too was familiar with but while Sakura's was a deep navy, the other person's was a bright orange. She was climbing onto the bed next to someone who had their head tucked into their knees, patting on a visible hand.

Staying just behind the door, he listened carefully when the girl started to speak, "Naruto, are you okay?"

There was a whine followed by a muffled boy's voice, "I'm fine."

"I'm sure everyone's fine." There was a shuffle.

"The news was saying that everyone's been either evacuated or taken to shelter," the boy explained.

"Everyone upstairs is being taken a few floors down. I think there might be a bomb shelter down there."

"That's good."

In the silence that followed, Sasuke wondered why these two weren't part of the other groups. Well, he knew about Naruto. He had been watching the news when the last major blow-up happened. The girl was a mystery to him though.

As he was crouched by the door, he debated what to do next. It was obvious what Madara wanted to do now but he didn't know how to stop it. He didn't know what he should do anymore.

He was frustrated and angry but so tired. He'd been so focused on his brother and his parents' death to have his whole plan swept out from under his feet. Why had the Scarecrow defended Itachi? Itachi was the one that had taken the life of his whole clan to resurrect Madara.

And why did Madara kill him?

There was a distant rumble and the floor beneath him shook.

"Did you feel that?" The girl in the room asked as there was more shuffling and Sasuke shot back down the hall to hide around the corner. A few moments later, he heard the two kids step out into the hall.

"What was that?" Naruto asked out loud just after another shook trembled down to them, following a loud thump from above. It sounded like an elephant dropping from a cliff but Sasuke knew that it was the sound of bombs.

"Naruto!" The girl hissed and Sasuke heard the sound of footsteps moving away. Feeling that he wouldn't be seen, he looked and saw the boy stepping up to the set of doors at the end of the hall. The girl stayed where she was but called, "we'll be in so much trouble if someone sees you!"

"Sakura," Naruto had looked out the windows and turned to her with a confused and worried frown. "There's no one outside."

"What?" She stomped forward. "That's impossible…"

Her stunned silence made the echo of the next tremor even louder. It was getting closer now. The faint unrealistic hope Sasuke had of Madara not remembering the number on the paper in Sasuke's pocket was dashed.

At any time to think, another blast sounded just around the corner and Sasuke flinched away from the debris. In the cloud of dust, he muffled a cough against his hand and quickly looked around the corner.

A figure in black was standing where Sakura had been only moments before, between Sasuke and the other two. Wiping off the dust from his black suit with his only remaining hand, Deidara laughed, "looks like I'm in luck. Only had to bomb straight down."

Sakura was gripping Naruto's arm and their terrified faces only made Deidara grin even more. He was reaching out to grab Naruto of his hair when suddenly he froze.

He swayed on his feet before finally tumbling to the ground, his head falling off of his shoulders. In his place, Sasuke stood with a long thin sword.

Refusing to meet Naruto and Sakura's eyes, he busied himself with sheathing his sword.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked, suddenly finding a sense of courage again and stepping forward. A shell-shocked Sakura tagged along.

Sasuke checked his work, blatantly ignoring Naruto.

"Oi! Didn't you hear me?" Suspicious and all-around confused, Naruto stood his ground.

"No one special."

A tiny beep sounded from the body, making their heads snap to it. Another beep sounded and Sasuke took a step away, the other two following him around the body.

There wasn't time to squeeze through any vents if that was a sound he thought it was. Looking up into the hole above them that went on for a few floors, Sasuke said, "let's get out of here."

In a step backward, Sasuke leaped up and was able to catch on with one hand, lifting himself up onto the next floor as Naruto hoisted Sakura up and leaped after her. By the time they were all up, the beeping had sped up.

Together they sprinted down the hall and around the corner, Naruto leading the way as they got as far as possible until a loud blast sounded out and knocked them off their feet.

* * *

Iruka was staring at him now. This was the complete opposite of a few minutes ago and Kakashi was not liking this any better. It was worse really because now Cat was looking at Kakashi and not as Scarecrow.

"How can you fight so well?" The sudden question almost made him jolt off the road.

"Well… My family's always been big in martial arts. My father was a master of them all so he taught me a lot." Kakashi sounded like he was far off in his memories behind his mask. "I found a teacher when he got sicker."

"Mhm," accompanied Iruka's thoughtful nod. He wanted to ask so many questions like how Kakashi started fighting as the Scarecrow and why. The Scarecrow had only really started making the news when Iruka began taking up his own mask.

"And you?"

"Hmm?"

Kakashi glanced over at him and clarified, "I've seen you backflip off a roof with a five-point on the fire escape below."

"I might have taken a few classes of gymnastics." At the withering look that Iruka could feel under the mask, he pursed his lips. "I may have taken many. I may have even been to tournaments."

"Knew it." Kakashi's triumph was enough to make Iruka smirk but the smile quickly faded once he realized what road they were taking to get to the power plant and where they would pass by to get to it. When his eyes fell on the building, his heart dropped.

"Kakashi." His hand against the front of Kakashi's suit. "Look."

"I see it."

Beyond the bend in the road in front of them, they could see a line of black smoke fuming in the distance. They didn't need to see through the office buildings to see that it was coming from Gedo. It was a familiar sight.

When they were within a few blocks of the compound, they threw the car into a lot and jumped out. Sprinting across the lot to the street, Iruka bounced on the balls of his feet to wait as Kakashi pocketed his phone and shoved it into the glove compartment.

"Come on, slowpoke." A familiar catty grin had Kakashi smiling back.

"Safety first." He called as he swept out and followed Iruka's trot, the car doors clicking locked as he left.

"You think it's Naruto?" Iruka wondered as they jogged quickly up the street.

"I know it's Naruto." Kakashi berated himself for not thinking of it. What was more valuable than any power source or any item? A boy who possessed the spirit of an ancient demon, that's what.

There was a worried him from the other man and they hurried.

* * *

Sasuke coughed and dragged himself to his knees on the cold, broken tiles. The air was filled with dust but he could see the faint outlines of the girl and boy not too far ahead of him. It looked like the blast had knocked them into a wall. They weren't moving.

Struggling to his feet, Sasuke moved closer to the others to check if they were still alive but heard a set of steps coming from behind him. In a rush, he quietly hid around a corner and listened.

"Are you sure?" The first voice was deep.

"Of course I am." The second voice was a woman's and Sasuke knew who they were instant.

The steps were getting closer and Sasuke didn't have time to wonder why Konan, Pein, and Deidara were all after the blond boy. After tracking them for so long and spying on them since they left the Mangekyou, he knew that Madara's reincarnation wasn't far behind.

At the thought of those blinding crimson eyes, he started to shake and moved further into the dust of the hall.

A groan sounded from where the kids were and Sasuke could only watch as two adult figures approached. One leaned down to thrown a body over their shoulder but as the other did, the girl screamed.

She shouted and flailed but they threw her over their shoulder like she was nothing. As they started to walk back the way they came, Sasuke was assaulted by Sakura's cries, "help! Let me go! Help!"

Fighting away the fear and panic, the side of Sasuke that was human forced him up and he followed them.

After carefully following through the dusted halls that were slowly beginning to fill with smoke, it was clear that Sasuke had no idea where he was going anymore and was surrendering himself to a path without any safety nets.

A long flight of stairs later and he listened as they stepped out of an open door. Stepping slowly up, he saw through the door that there was a setting sky and crept higher to see someone who terrified him.

"Who's the girl?" Even with the setting sun behind him, Obito's eyes were burning the brightest red. He was adjusting the cuffs on his suit with a dead stare on his face and he was looking right at Sakura who was now quiet and shaking.

"Found her with the boy. Deidara's dead." Pein stated as he dropped Naruto's body unsympathetically. It hit with a thud that makes Sakura flinch.

Obito took a step forward in his leather shoes to study her for a few moments before going back to his cuff, "I'll deal with her. But first..."

Sasuke heard the steps before he saw Hidan and Kakuzu and their arms were suddenly around Konan and Pein's necks as the two jolted in surprise.

"A little bit of mutiny," Obito finished as a wicked smirk contorted his lips. Then a snap rang out along with a cry of shock from Sakura and Sasuke saw the bodies of the old Akatsuki leaders fall to the ground lifeless.

Konan's dead eyes were staring right at him and he failed to move when Kakuzu grabbed Sakura's collar.

"No! Please!" She was kicking and screaming against the hand that was dragging her over to Obito.

Kakuzu held her out and Obito took her by the neck as Kakuzu joked, "an offering."

"I guess this will do." Sakura was thrust up into the air and she struggled to breathe, clawing at the hand and gasping for air.

"Sakura," a quiet voice said and everyone's eyes flicked down to Naruto as he pulled himself slowly to his feet.

"Naruto!" There was a desperate relief in her voice and Sasuke wondered why. Why was this kid so special? Who was this Naruto?

After all the time he'd been spying on the Akatsuki, he'd never once been able to understand what was so special about having this boy as a host.

"Let her go!" Naruto suddenly screamed, standing shakily. There was a rage pouring from him, one that Sasuke could sense."I don't know who you are or what you want, but you better let her go!"

The response was Sakura's last cry before she couldn't breathe anymore, Obito's hand closing around her neck tighter.

"Damn you!" Naruto suddenly bolted towards the Uchiha. Before he could get anywhere near, he was thrown back by Hidan's arm as it slammed into his gut.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, wanting to run out and help. But he knew he was out of his league.

But he moved when Obito threw Sakura into the cement floor and Naruto's cry, "Sakura!"

He was suddenly staring at terrifying eyes that stared straight at him. Sasuke's sword was embedded in the man's gut. Slowly, the man lifted his eyes to stare deeply at Sasuke and mutter, "you're a traitor just like your brother."

There was a pause of shock. Sasuke quickly stepped back once he realized what he'd done and glanced back to find everyone staring at him. He looked back at Obito and felt the world starting to tip.

Looking down, he saw a hole coming from his chest from the bullet Obito shot him with and he hit the ground.

There was a scream. It sounded human at first but grew into something deeper and animalistic. A large, clawed paw slammed into the ground beside him and hands were turning him over. He saw Sakura's face of concern and fear, but beyond that, there was a large fox crying out again.

Oh, he's the Kyuubi.

* * *

The front gate was wide open and Kakashi followed Iruka as he sped ahead, threw open the front doors and led them inside. They had just passed through the doors to block C when Iruka scraped to a stop.

A giant, smoking hole was laid out before them. It was the source of the black smoke that rippled into the sky. Iruka grabbed Kakashi's arm, "Naruto's room was-"

His words were cut off by a sharp crack in the air. They were sharing a look when a familiar roar hit their ears. It was coming from the roof.

Quick as a flash, Kakashi pulled Iruka against him and shot a grappling hook from the forearm of his suit up. Once it hooked on the level visible, they were shot up.

Landing on a roll, they saw the madness unfolding.

No longer was there Naruto but now there was a fox the size of mammoth, roaring at three figures. From behind, Kakashi could see they were all wearing suits but only one was familiar.

Beyond them, he could see a small green light and the shape of two children. He asked, "do you see them?"

"Yeah, I've got them." Iruka nodded and hopped back into the hole behind them to get behind Naruto, leaving Kakashi to deal with things head on.

Naruto's arm whipped out and slashed at one of the men in suits, sending them flying over Kakashi's head and into the hole. Kakashi glanced back to see them smash against their head against of the floors and tumble down into the darkness below. Knowing there was no chance that a normal human could survive that, he turned back to the turmoil and found the familiar man to be looking his way.

It wasn't hard to see the red eyes, a reminder to Kakashi that the person who used to inhabit that body was no longer in there. The man started towards him and Kakashi stood his ground. Shots started to ring out and Naruto roared back against the last man.

With Obito's body, Madara was suddenly a foot away in a flash of speed. Kakashi only had time to dodge the oncoming fist as Madara flew passed him.

Spinning, he almost lost sight of the other man until he spotted him again on the other side of the hole, walking away as if knowing that Kakashi would follow. Without a sliver of doubt, he followed.

On the other side of the roof, Iruka had just flitted up the steps and ground to a stop next to Sakura who had her hands on the chest of a very pale boy. He knelt and she finally noticed him, glancing up with a start but the green never left her hands. Iruka saw the blood pouring from Sasuke's chest and how the green glow of her hands was pulling it back in, the tendons melding back together.

Above them, Naruto staggered back and almost crushed them as bullets hit him. Iruka stepped in front of Sakura and started towards the short distance between him and Naruto.

With a shaky hand, he lightly touched the flank of the fox and its head snapped to him.

"Naruto." He said firmly, knowing deep down that the boy was still there and still able to take control. "Let me take it from here."

In the moment of confusion and indecision, the fox growled but turned to face them. Another shot rang out but the fox ignored it and watched as Iruka stepped around him, between them and the last Akatsuki member.

Behind him, Iruka could hear the fox cough and breathe out deeply as his fur withdrew. Underneath, Naruto was panting and holding a hand over his chest.

"Kind of low to shoot at kids, don't you think?" Iruka called out across the broken roof.

Kakuzu didn't respond until he had finished reloading his gun. "Not the first time I've killed a child. Won't be the last either."

Face darkening, Iruka silently drew a gun from his side and got ready to dash. He said quietly, "then you're the worst scum."

Just as they flew at each other, Sasuke came to consciousness. He saw a bullet whiz by the Cat's hood just as the smaller man knocked the gun out of his hand and a punch was sent flying into Kakuzu's gut. As the man bent over, the Cat went in for a knee to the face but was stopped by a fist slamming into his ribs. There was a pained sound and the Cat went down with Kakuzu in tow who started senselessly punching down.

"Iruka!" A weak Naruto called and Sasuke's blurry mind wondered why that name sounded so familiar.

A bang rang out and there was a pause in the punches before they started again. Another shot had Kakuzu flinching but didn't stop his fists. There was a shot again and again until finally, the punches stopped with a last bullet that the Cat fired out with a frustrated cry.

Kakuzu slumped forward and onto Iruka, leaving everyone stunned for a moment. Naruto, peppered with bruises and tiny holes, tried to shakily stand but fell to his knees. "Iruka?"

Kakuzu twitched and the toppled off of a panting Cat who was groaning, trying to crawl his way out from under the bigger man.

With renewed energy, Naruto stumbled forward and helped push away the body. There was a wheeze from Iruka but the worst part was the worry on Naruto's face.

"Are you okay?"

Trying to ignore the pain radiating from his ribcage, Iruka faked a smile and patted the boy's head, "of course, are you hurt?"

"I'm fine…" Naruto's eyes drifted to the two others with concern. "I don't know about him though."

Struggling to stand, Iruka held a hand to his side and pretended he wasn't breathing shallowly as he ground out, "I think he'll be okay. Sakura's pretty good at what she does."

Before Naruto could hug the everloving crap out, Iruka played it cool and turned away in a cool manner, looking over the other roofs in hope to see Kakashi anywhere.

"He went that way." Naruto weakly stepped up next to him and pointed to the roof of a section over, one slightly lower and out of sight. It was going to be a battle to get over there in his condition. Iruka's ribs were killing him but he needed to be there.

As he started off, a voice piped up, "wait."

Sasuke was slowly sitting up with Sakura's help.

"I told you to stay out of this, Sasuke." The fact that the Cat knew his name didn't seem to faze the boy.

Instead, he looked Iruka dead in the eyes and said, "You can't keep me out of this, commissioner."

Sakura glanced in shock between the two of them as they exchanged intense stares, the same realization hitting her too.

"Fine." Without any other words, the Cat turned and started towards the grand whole in the roof with his gaggle of kids trailing behind. His worry grew with every step and once they could see figures, they saw the blur of motion.

If Iruka hadn't already seen the Scarecrow in action, he probably wouldn't have been able to follow his movements but he could see the kick, the block and how he would sometimes feign to the left. The kids, on the other hand, were in awe. The sad part was that it looked like the Scarecrow was taking more hits then he was giving.

Iruka hadn't seen him land one hit yet. There was a slam to Kakashi's chest that sent him tumbling back. Even though he landed on his feet, he had still skidded back. It was like Madara could read his movements. Iruka needed to get down there.

"Stay here." He said to the kids as he moved to one side of the roof. Fiddling with his new belt, he found a grappling hook similar to Kakashi's and embedded it into the roof to start rappelling down.

Kakashi was burned out. His muscles ached and his heart was burning for a rest. His lungs were in no better condition. The whole time, it was Obito's face staring back at him. It wasn't that it was Obito either. If it was up to him, he would have taken Madara out already. He was just so strong. It was like he could predict every move Kakashi was going to make. It felt like he was being played with.

Spurring forward, Madara slammed a fist at Kakashi so fast that he didn't have time to dodge. As it collided, he could hear and feel the integrity of his mask start to fail. He tried to sidestep out of the way but he was too slow when the next blow hit. Before he even had time to properly get his arms up, a kick slammed into his chest and he flew back into the ground.

A hand was suddenly around his neck and a body pressed him down. Obito's mouth was pulled into a vicious grin as he reached with his other hand to pull off Kakashi's mask.

There was a hysterical laugh that erupted from the man above him, "I think you'd be a better host than any other cop, don't you?"

That did not sound good.

A finger was suddenly digging into his temple deeply. It was so sharp he could feel it scraping against his skull and he felt that if he moved, it would tear his skin easily.

"Just let me into that brain of yours," was the sick demand before a shot rang out and suddenly Kakashi couldn't see.

"Ahn!" The weight on his middle was gone but so was the sight in one of his eyes. It burned and that whole side of his face felt wet. Alongside his own screams of pain, he heard Madara crying out.

Suddenly, the world went black and the pain consumed him.

There was so much blood, even from where Sasuke stood. Madara was clutching his hand with his gun strewn aside and had his eyes set on the Cat now who was still holding his pistol.

But Sasuke had his eyes on the Scarecrow. He couldn't quite see the man's face but the cries of pain had suddenly stopped. Suddenly, he sat up and got to his feet as though the pain wasn't there. The Scarecrow then opened the eye that was supposed to have been sliced away and it shone the same bright red as Madara's.

Madara quieted himself and ground out, "you've got to be joking."

With abnormal momentum, the Scarecrow stole forward and hooked an unexpected fist into Madara's side. Before another one could fall, Madara tried to dance around the cloaked man but was hit with a high kick that threw him onto the ground.

Standing tall and powerful above the fallen Uchiha, the Scarecrow unclipped his cloak and let it fall slowly to the ground. Madara slowly got to his feet and they were back at it, throwing punches and twisting out of range in a dance that had Sasuke reeling to try and understand. They separated once more and the Scarecrow brought both hands up.

He ground the backs of his gloves against each other and an eruption of sparks started to dance up his hands and arms.

They clashed again and this one was a lot quicker than before. A fist slammed into the other man's, burned straight through it and into his chest.

The Scarecrow's arm ripped back out and the electricity faded, Madara slumping to the ground.

"Kakashi." Iruka had stepped up and was only a few feet away now. Even though he looked like him, Iruka knew that something was off.

Turning with his fist closed around a very bloody chunk of human, Kakashi gave a soft smile with his still glowing red eye, "hello, commissioner."

Mouth sliding open, Iruka watched as Kakashi in that odd smile slammed the chunk of bits down and stomp his boot into it. Iruka almost puked. "Oh god, what…"

"Don't worry. He should be dead for… A while."

"Dead." Iruka nodded dizzily and couldn't help but get stuck between looking at the dead man a few feet away or the other man who was slowly approaching him with a bloodied face. Shaking away the confusion, he looked at Kakashi and took a shot in the dark, "Obito?"

"Yes, wonderful guess, sir." Kakashi smiled again and Iruka almost saw a flash of the butler underneath.

"Oh," he shivered and took a step back, holstering his gun and trying not to throw up both out of pain in his side and utter confusion. "Is… Is he going to be okay?"

"Yes, and he's even better than before. I'm giving him a gift actually." Kakashi's smile started to fade and he said, "please, keep him safe."

With that, his eyes slid shut and the strength that was once there in his shoulders slid out. Kakashi slumped forward and almost fell to his knees but Iruka jolted in to catch Kakashi's head on his shoulder. The soft wheezing almost had Iruka shaking but he hugged Kakashi close and asked, "hey, you okay?"

"Mhm," it was the soft and deep voice that was naturally Kakashi now. "Yeah."

Iruka felt a soft squeeze back on his shoulders but he pulled back to look at Kakashi in the eyes. The bloody eyes had slid shut and now Kakashi just looked exhausted. Without helping it, Iruka smiled and rubbed his back. "You didn't tell me you were Zeus."

That had earned him a soft chuckle and he felt a pair of lips brush his neck as they said, "don't worry. It's just the money."

They fell into silence again with their faces close, the sun slipping past the horizon finally. There was a heavy feeling coming from Kakashi. Maybe it was the 'gift' Obito had given him. Something had happened when Obito had taken over.

"Let's go home." Kakashi finally said with a small smile that Iruka knew was all Kakashi.

* * *

"Gyuh," Hidan opened his eyes to see that he was staring up at the night sky.

There was the sound of voices and even lights around him but he couldn't lift his head up to see. The light suddenly hit his eyes and he squinted against it, "hey, get that light out of my eyes, bastard."

A few confused and frightened face came into view and Hidan cursed his luck when he saw the badges and the uniforms of Konoha PD.

* * *

After leaving Sakura and Naruto with pats on their heads at Gedo, the rest of them trudged back to the car and were now slowly making their way down back roads to the nearest entrance to Kakashi's hideout. It was weird driving with one eye but Kakashi was somehow managing. Sakura had done a pretty good job at closing his bleeding face.

Sasuke was slumped into one of the back seats, too tired and stunned to say anything or even twitch. He was staring out the window blankly while Iruka started to painfully unbuckle his suit and unzip it as much as he could.

"Ahn, fuck," he was grimacing hard and holding his side.

With a glance over, a concerned Kakashi mused, "maybe we should at least stop by a hospital."

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Just… Irritated bruise."

"Like that one." Kakashi reached out and lightly tapped the one on Iruka's cheekbone before tapping his split lip. "And this one?"

"I said I'm fine." Iruka caught his hand and pulled it down. He glanced behind at them at the boy who was slowly falling asleep in the backseat. "We're going to your place, right?"

"Mhm." Kakashi nodded.

"I think he should take the guest bed," Iruka noted to Kakashi's frustration.

"Iruka, you're hurt."

"Kakashi, he was shot." Iruka gave him a look that had Kakashi shut his mouth. Looking out the window, Iruka casually said, "not like I'm sleeping on that couch so…"

It took Kakashi a bit. His mind was pretty slow at that point but he got the idea of what Iruka was trying to say a few seconds later and he relaxed with an, "oh."

Their hands were still locked together by the time they got to the hideout.

* * *

Kakashi woke up the next afternoon with a blinding headache. He hadn't even woken up naturally. The sound of a phone going off had him and Iruka jolting up. The hope of waking up before Iruka and getting to look at him a little while he was asleep was dashed completely when the younger man got up to get the phone.

"Hello," he heard Iruka answer in the living room where they'd dropped their jackets. "Yes, are you? Good. How are things? Yeah, I heard. No, I know most of it. You found him? Good. Should we hold a press conference?"

The rest of the conversation was all a blur to Kakashi who dropped back into sleep but Sasuke was watching with listening with interest from the kitchen table where he was chewing on a bowl of cereal. Once the call was finished, Iruka stumbled to the kitchen for some water and almost jumped across the room when he saw Sasuke. "Holy shit. You scared the crap out of me."

Sasuke looked up at him but went back to slowly chewing his cereal. Standing there in a pair of shorts and a shirt Kakashi let him borrow, Iruka was about to go back to bed but instead got himself a glass of water and poured a glass of juice for Sasuke.

Looking up from his bowl again as Iruka sat down across from him, Sasuke quickly looked down at his bowl when Iruka's eyes met his.

"I know you're probably really confused about all of this." Iruka started and slowly said, "but… I just want you to know that… Your brother really was a good-"

"I didn't kill him." Sasuke interrupted quickly, making Iruka freeze.

"Oh. Good."

He was slightly confused but Sasuke elaborated, "I was face to face with him for the first time in years and… I couldn't. I dropped my knife. He was going to hug me. Madara killed him."

They were both silent as Sasuke stirred his bowl lightly until he went on, "that's why I went with him. If he killed my brother… I thought he was a good person. He went to see a few people. I saw Orochimaru. They started talking about Gedo and hosts. So, I got the room number they were heading for and ran."

Iruka nodded and listened until the boy couldn't speak anymore, words slipping away under pressure.

"It's okay," Iruka said softly. "It's over now, Sasuke."

Sniffing, the boy nodded back. "Yeah."

"Do you want a drink? Something warm?" At the offer, Sasuke shook his head and quietly ate the last bite.

He stood and brought his bowl over to the sink. "I think I'm going to go back to bed."

"Good, you deserve some rest." Iruka left the room slowly, feeling Sasuke's curious eyes on his back.

He had about four hours until he had to get ready for a press conference he was dreading. So, he slipped quietly back into Kakashi's room, pausing at the edge of the bed to really study the other man. Hair askew and ruffled by the sheets, Kakashi's arm was flung across Iruka's side of the bed as if waiting for him to come back. Iruka tried to ignore the fluttering in his chest at the mere thought of crawling back into bed with the man.

He was able to resist at work and in public but when it was just the two of them, he had trouble pretending he wasn't affected. When they were younger and just starting their careers, Kakashi had all sort of influence on him. It seemed like they were always after each other until they actually got what they wanted and Kakashi left to make a name for himself across the world. Now, Iruka didn't know what they were and he couldn't tell what Kakashi wanted.

So, he pushed away the doubt and took this moment for himself because that was what he wanted. Slipping under the blanket, he was just about to move Kakashi's arm out of the way when it reached over and tugged Iruka over to him carefully. Avoiding his painful side, Iruka let himself get close and comfortable for the next four hours.

* * *

Everything went off without a hitch. There was an odd sense of pride in the air and many curious questions about Naruto that Iruka could only half answer. There were even more questions about their vigilantes (mostly the Scarecrow) and if they would be available to answer any questions to which Iruka joked, "hey, if I had the Scarecrow's number, I'd call him more often."

It seemed like since the incident was contained to Redo, the whole city felt much more safe and confident. It gave Iruka a spark of pride.

The real matter at hand was what to do about Sasuke. The boy's foster parents seemed to have completely forgotten about him and had even come up with some lie that Sasuke was 'playing video games' when Kakashi called them. On one hand, it was disturbing that a couple like that could get passed child services but on the other hand…

Kakashi had started thinking that they might be able to use that to their advantage, according to a text he sent Iruka in the evening. The commissioner wondered what the other man had in mind but didn't question it.

The other kids at Gedo who had been all confined to their basement safe room were all okay and accounted for. In a few blocks away, the more mentally unstable ones were all confined to their safe cells and all accounted for except one that had been missing for almost weeks anyway: Orochimaru.

"And that's all I remember." Yamato's face suddenly went blank and Iruka motioned for the two other officers to leave.

"Thank you, Yamato. I think we've got everything until last night." Iruka reached across the table and put a hand over Yamato's cold one and said with the most sincerity, "I'm so glad you're okay."

That had earned him a small smile.

There was a buzz in his pocket and Iruka pulled out his phone to find a text from his favourite vigilante.

'Meet me,' was vague enough for Iruka to know what Kakashi meant.

"I'll get a car to escort you home and we'll have guards posted for the next few week, okay? Take all the time you need to need." They nodded to each other and Iruka left his office to slowly make his way up the roof, making sure to not be seen by anyone.

"Please, please, please, we won't tell anyone anything."

It was a girl's voice he heard first and he was confused until he heard a very familiar little boy repeat, "please, we'll do anything you ask."

Slipping out the door to lean on the wall next to it, he found a very awkward looking Scarecrow trying to fend off two kids.

"Do anything?" Iruka pipped up to the two kids' horror.

Naruto stepped forward first. "I… We want to help!"

"They want to become our apprentices." Kakashi clarified behind his replacement mask.

"I mean," Naruto flushed and slyly grinned. "Since we know who you guys are."

At first, Iruka was horrified that Naruto would even think of blackmailing them even though he knew the boy wouldn't actually go through with such a threat. The second feeling that came over him was confusion as to how Naruto knew Kakashi. Kakashi wasn't a social icon at the moment as far as Iruka knew and Naruto didn't have access to the internet.

"First of all, I don't know how you two got out of the facility and I don't want to know if you two are going to get caught."

"That's what I was saying." Kakashi had his arms crossed and Iruka kind of liked the way he seemed like a dad figure. "Gedo is under the watch of pretty much everyone right now."

"Mmm," Naruto was softly stewing to himself but Sakura took his elbow gently.

"They're right, Naruto. We should be heading back soon," she said with a smile before looking back at the two adults. "Is… Is he okay? Sasuke?"

"He should be fine." Kakashi nodded them off. "We'll talk about this later."

The promise of those words had the kids shining and they whooped in delight before running off the roof, calling, "thanks, Sensei!"

"Sensei?" Kakashi was confused and unsure of how to feel about that term.

With a soft chuckle, Iruka stepped forward and they faced each other as Iruka said, "remind me to ask you how Naruto knows your face."

He could tell when Kakashi's shoulders stiffened and smirked when Kakashi pleaded, "at home?"

"Yes, at home." The implications of what home meant had Iruka tingling inside and he slowly announced, "someone dropped Yamato off in front of the station last night. We suspect that Orochimaru was somehow involved in all of this.

There was a hum from Kakashi at the news and Iruka could feel the wheels in the other man's head turning already. "I… I think I'm retiring soon."

"Eh?" It caught Kakashi off guard. "Really? But… You're a great commissioner, Iruka."

"No, I…" Iruka flushed and gave Kakashi a reprehensive glare. "Not from commissioner."

"Oh."

"Yeah, I mean, you're great at what you do Kakashi and… It's a lot of pressure for me to be juggling all of this and I think you do it a lot better than I do. Hey, and if the kids really do want to learn and be taught then… You might have a few new sidekicks."

Kakashi looked at him, deep in thought behind the mask. He was going to be losing a good backup. If they separated like this, what would that mean for them?

"Maybe the kids could even succeed me one day," Kakashi mused out loud and Iruka smiled.

"Maybe." There was promise in the fact that there would always be someone to protect the city.

"I should get out of here." Kakashi started to step away.

"Hey," they stopped moving and looked at each other. "You'll still come visit my office, right?"

When Kakashi didn't say anything, Iruka got nervous but the other man moved in close until they were only inches apart and murmured, "can I visit even when we live together?"

Iruka tried to hide a grin and had looked away from a brief moment only to find that Kakashi slipped of both masks, moving forward to press their lips together. Heart in his throat, Iruka kissed him back softly and they slowly pulled away.

"See you at home," Kakashi said as he pulled his masks back on.

And then he was off into the night.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did writing.

One last bonus chap after this ;3


	8. Us

It smelled like paper and ink in the entire building. It was almost like an office supply store. While on one hand it was soothing and comforting, Iruka didn't want to be soothed or comforted even if his new bruises were starting to ache badly now.

With his leg bouncing nervously, he eyed anyone who passed by and tried to seem as dark and mysterious as he could. Normally, a bloody nose and hood helped immensely when it came to eye contact but now he was getting very interested looks from officers and civilians alike.

"I'll be right back." The big officer lumbered off to probably find a snack and left Iruka cuffed on the plastic chair outside of his doom. It would have been a perfect opportunity to escape if there hadn't been eyes on his from all corners of the room; figures.

They could do their job when it came to their home base but not when it came to actually stopping crime. Iruka could think of a number of names that had escaped one too many times from officers who could be easily bribed; they usually were. The whole city was under their thumb, even the commissioner.

Delicately, he searched his nose for any breaks using the tips of his fingers. Nothing major thankfully. Despite being smaller and weaker than the thug he'd ran into, the big guy didn't exactly have the best reflexes. Iruka's years of gymnastics had been extremely useful until he'd somehow been caught and punched over and over.

The punches weren't the issue though. It was what the thug had taken from him.

With a sigh, he patted the last wallet he had of the day that was safely hidden in his pocket. The problem is that it wasn't his. His wallet contained the seventeen bills he'd managed to pick that day. Most of them had been twenties and he had the luck of a fifty too.

Usually, he picked someone's purse, scuttled down an alley to take the bills and then he walked into the nearest store to pretend that he'd found it on the ground.

There were many pickpockets in the city though. At the end of the day, Iruka was only a small fish that others like to pray on. This was the third time this month that he was in this chair and it wasn't even the same thug who had put him there. It was starting too feel like a routine.

He would start to head home when someone would jump him and call the cops with the excuse that Iruka had stolen his wallet. Since Iruka was young and looked kind of homeless, he was usually cuffed and brought in.

This was the first time he was in to see the commissioner though. He wasn't excited about meeting the man who had screwed this city over.

"Iruka Umino." The door had finally opened and a tall man was standing in the doorway. He looked younger then Iruka had expected. He couldn't be older than thirty. After looking around, he finally asked, "where's the guy that was watching you?"

"Um…" Iruka looked off in the direction the cop had left. Still no sign of him. He shrugged.

"Idiots." After a moment of looking conflicted at the cuffs, the man brushed a hand through his fluffy blond hair and motioned towards Iruka. "Just bring the chair."

Iruka stood and tried not to let anyone see his shaking hands as he awkwardly shuffled his chair into the office.

The shades were closed and the office only had the desk light on. The commissioner closed the door after Iruka had shuffled all the way in, shuffled over to the desk and sat down with a large sigh to look over the decently thick file in his hands.

Perched on his seat and picking at his jeans, Iruka felt ice in his bones. He'd never been in this much trouble before. This was on a whole new level. Just for pickpocketing? He thought that if he ever ended up in this situation, it would've been because he started dealing in drugs or something.

The silence was starting to get to him and he snuck a glance up to find the man still reading what looked like his file. Maybe he would take pity on a poor orphaned Iruka and send him home with a slap on the wrists. He could only be so lucky though.

Trying to find somewhere else to set his eyes on, he scanned over the old computer stuffed in the corner of the room, the file filing cabinet, a stack of books on the ground and even the paper shredder that was too full to fit anything else.

The floor and everything around the desk seemed messy. It wasn't exactly what Iruka was expecting. He kind of expected a smarmy bigshot who was 'too busy for paperwork'. There wasn't even a nameplate on the desk. Just a picture frame, a clock and a few artificial plants.

"So." The file was slapped down, startling the teen. Blue eyes stared at him intently and Iruka looked away at the ground, hoping to hide behind his hood.

"Honour roll student, MVP on the basketball team and in line for a scholarship to Konoha." Iruka could feel his cheeks burn and he avoided looking up for as long as possible.

"So, what's going on?" It was a loaded question that Iruka couldn't respond to. He didn't want to. But the blond man said softly, "Iruka."

He felt stupid. He really did. It felt like he was seeing his counselor in high school and they were going to give him some bull about university choices. It was more than frustrating and he felt like everything was spiralling out of control.

His face was hot. There was a prickling behind his eyes and his nose was starting to drip. Rubbing painfully at it, he sniffed and finally looked up to find the man looking at him with not pity or anger but concern.

"Why are you taking people's wallets?" It wasn't accusing but genuinely curious and Iruka gripped his jeans.

"I don't know." He hated how pathetic he sounded.

"What do you do with the money?"

He swallowed. "I was saving it."

"For what?" When Iruka shrugged, the man turned to his drawers and pulled out a few papers that made Iruka flinch. This was probably going on his record now. What was had he been thinking?

"So, what did he look like?" Pulling out a pen, blue eyes looked at Iruka expectantly and he blinked.

"What?"

"What did your attacker look like?" The commissioner said slowly with a wave of his pen.

"I…" Iruka frowned and felt so confused. "Wait, what?"

"Hmm?" The man looked just as confused as Iruka did. "What did the guy who attack you look like? You're still technically a minor and hitting anyone under the age of twenty is illegal."

"He…" He was struggling between deciding if this guy was being serious or just pulling his leg. "I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because-" He cut himself off. This guy was either being an ass or was just plain clueless. "If he even gets anywhere near a cop, he's going to find me and kill me."

With his fingers laced over his mouth and his eyes suddenly going dark, the commissioner eyed Iruka intently. "So he knows you."

Iruka shut his mouth. Almost everyone in the city knew who he was. They didn't know his name or his face very well but they knew him by his hood. He always wore it even when he used to hang out with Mizuki's gang. Between all the groups and gangs in the city, he had somehow become a middle man. He tried not to mess with anyone. He stayed out of their way. But he wasn't hated. He was just an easy target.

"Tell me, Iruka Umino. How did a kid like you manage to weasel his way into the heart of this city?" Iruka was sweating hard now. What did the commissioner want? What was he going to do to him? Was he going to force him into working undercover in exchange for not going to juvie? If anyone found out he was a rat, he'd be killed.

Sharp like a whip, the commissioner smiled. "I can practically see the sweat on you. Calm down, kid. I have a deal for you."

"Deal?"

"Mhm. I'll let you go free and I'll even wipe all the other things you've done off your record. I'll even make sure nothing else ever gets on it. But you have to make me a promise." There was a smile on the commissioner's face and Iruka couldn't tell if he should be worried or shitting himself.

"What is it?" Iruka asked after the long silence between them.

"Promise that you'll work for me." Both of their faces were blank and straight. Unmoving, Iruka was dumbfounded and couldn't speak.

"Work… For you?" Iruka finally asked.

"Yes. Legally." The man finally stood and started pacing. "You see, I need kids like you who are already integrated in this society to really turn it inside out. So, go get your degree in criminology, I'll hire you as an intern while you take your police courses and you'll tell me if anything big happens."

"Big?"

He nodded. "Yes, point us in the right direction or at who."

Eyes flicked to the door.

"Wait." Iruka sat straight. "Are you asking me to spy on your officers?"

"Spy on them? No, of course not. But if you happen to see an officer of the law in a place he shouldn't be or talking to someone in a less than lawful manner… Well, you've got a cellphone." A card slid across the table at him with a number on it. Iruka numbly picked it up as a knock sounded at the door and the commissioner called out, "one moment, please.

"I don't expect you to take me up on this but if ever you need someone to talk to, I'm always around." The smile smile Iruka got was dazzling and he felt a blush creep onto his cheeks. How could someone go from scary dark to handsome and bright so quickly?

There was a stressed ball in his chest as if there was something screaming to get out of him but he reeled it in and asked, "what if I say no?"

"Well," it was as if he hadn't expected Iruka to ask to leave. "We go our separate ways. But if you end up in this chair again, I won't be let you off with a warning."

"Wait, so that's it? You're just going to let me go?"

Cold eyes met Iruka's again and he shut his mouth. "I think you know right from wrong, kid. Just stop lashing out at the world before you end up dead."

The other man was standing now and heading to the door. "Now, get out of here. I know those cuffs are way too loose."

With a sheepish wiggle, Iruka pulled his hand out of the loop and stood as he remembered the wallet in his pocket. He gave it to the commissioner, inducing a soft smile. "Maybe I'll see you around without cuffs."

"Maybe." Feeling lightheaded, Iruka nodded as Minato studied the wallet. He opened the door to find a familiar tall, pale man standing in his way and he died a little inside.

The striking silver hair and tight dress shirt were the same as earlier and Iruka wanted to throw himself out the window more than his eyes wanted to look at this extremely handsome man. Iruka had assumed he had been a tourist with that backpack but he was very obviously mistaken the way Minato was greeting the stranger.

Iruka didn't register a name. He barely had time to backtrack into the room and the pull the door with him when the tall man stepped into the room with his eyes never leaving Iruka. It was those dark, stormy eyes that followed Iruka when he bolted out of the room and the same ones that would haunt his daydreams for the week.

* * *

"Umino, I'm glad I caught you." Tsunade had stopped in front of his cubicle as her assistant was about to start packing up for the night.

"Tsunade, I was just about to put the report-"

Before Iruka could continue, Tsunade had a hand up to silence him. "I know you're supposed to leave soon but I need you to sit on a meeting with the security team about the almost break in yesterday."

"Of course," he nodded and followed her to the meeting room where she strode in to sit at the head of the table, Iruka right next to her with his laptop at the ready.

"Welcome, everyone," she said once the other men in suits had quieted down. With a sharp eye that scanned the room, she started to explain how this was a meeting to tighten their own security and crack down on policy.

They had already fired two officers and five civilians who had been leaking information. This meeting, rather than being about staff policy, was heavily based around building security and shifts.

Iruka had never met their security providers before and had only ever interacted with the guards on the main floor. So, when he finally looked up to scan the rest of the people at the table, he was more then stunned to find a familiar face. He was even more shell-shocked to find that this face belonged to the very company that was the provider of their security cameras and motion detectors.

With a smooth smile, Kakashi Hatake nodded, "thank you so much, commissioner. That means a great deal coming from you."

"Hatake's been good to us, especially with that last contract." The rest of her words faded away into the buzz that was filling Iruka's ears.

The rest of the world melted away and Iruka couldn't move, despite how much he wanted to bolt out of the room. Across the long table was sitting a man who knew what kind of person he used to be, a person that not even Tsunade had met before. Like a ghost from his past in a very slick black business suit and crimson tie, Kakashi stood and started a powerpoint behind him. While everyone else was looking off at his slides and listening intently, Iruka was solely wondering why Kakashi hadn't said anything to him.

It may have been that the other man had forgotten about the whole thing or that he just didn't recognize Iruka but there was the worry that he simply hadn't seen Iruka yet.

Even after Kakashi finished speaking and the rest of the meeting went on, Iruka was nervous he would suddenly be recognized even if there wasn't anything he could do about it. He hoped that Kakashi wasn't too hung up on the past. Iruka gave the wallet back, after all.

"Iruka." The meeting was over and Tsunade was standing over him. "Sorry, didn't really need you back there. I'd like you to meet someone actually."

Even as he nodded, he felt dread build up as she led him passed the other people who were walking out. It was when she caught the shoulder of the one specific man Iruka had been avoiding eye contact with that Iruka knew that this was karma.

"Great suggestions, kid." Tsunade had her hand on Kakashi's shoulder. "I'd like you to meet my new assistant. Iruka this is Kakashi Hatake. He's the ceo of Hatake Inc. Kakashi, this is my assistant Iruka."

"Please to meet you, Mr. Hatake." Iruka hid away the fading panic by confidently sticking out his hand with a polite smile.

"Mr. Hatake was my father," Kakashi crooned and took Iruka's hand in hi warm one. Iruka hid his shiver too, adrenaline running through him. It was almost impossible to look away when Kakashi smiled back. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Umino, but call me Kakashi."

"Kakashi." Iruka nodded and they shook hands. "You can call me Iruka then."

"Iruka." It was only slightly more than a whisper and Iruka made sure they separated before Kakashi noticed how sweaty his palms were with relief.

Tsunade ushered Kakashi away to the elevator.

While she didn't notice the backwards glance that Kakashi threw Iruka, the young assistant saw the look of interest and something that he hadn't ever seen directed towards him before. There was a hint of possibility that Iruka had never considered before and he was left standing stunned in the conference room.

"Nice meeting you, Iruka." The flirtatious wink after was left burned into his mind.

As much as he tried to forget it, he started seeing more and more of the man. Kakashi Hatake was suddenly in the building at least once a week. When Iruka asked Tsunade about it, she said it was because they were changing a few of the cameras and upgrading cables. While Iruka was nervous at the idea of Kakashi sticking around a lot more and possibly remembering Iruka, he was slowly coming to terms with having a small percentage of that happening. He was starting to like their small talk and the playful banter that was becoming more apparent. He also really loved looking at the tall man: the perfect package of brains, body and wit.

It was impossible to say that he didn't think of Kakashi in a manner that was less than professional. He might even wonder what the other man would look like in a tight officer's uniform.

Then one meeting he found Kakashi staring at from across the table. It had been played off as staring into space but Iruka found that their eyes would sometimes meet for longer than average times or that Kakashi would sometimes stand a little too close. At first, he thought it was just Kakashi catching glimpses of his old self. That was until a few weeks later.

During one of his night classes, the professor told them about how you could tell when someone was paying attention to you by how they mimic you. At first, Iruka noticed how Tsunade would shift her weight to her left leg when Iruka did. He started testing this out on other colleagues like Asuma who nodded when he did. The fun part was when he rubbed his nose. He hadn't expected Kakashi to do the same.

That was when the cups of coffee started showing up on his desk and if there wasn't coffee, there was always an apple or a sweet. He knew who it was from and it fired something up inside him.

"Umino!"

Genma was walking over with a big smirk on his face and next to Iruka Tsunade huffed, "glad you could finally show up, assistant chief."

"Anything for you, commissioner." The air of disapproval dissolved when Genma handed over a drink and Tsunade rubbed Iruka's shoulder.

"As my new secretary, dear Umino, I'll let you take care of the paperwork tonight but first," there was a hush that fell over them as she raised her glass to Genma. "To the new assistant chief."

Normally, nothing would have fazed Genma but Iruka noticed the faint trace of pink in his cheeks and he felt just as proud for him. "Congratulations."

"Thanks," they drank more and soon enough the whole floor was in office-party mode. Iruka strayed away from drinking and found himself at the looking on at the sea of people in funny hats with the new year in big, bold writing. He had mingled enough and had set himself to lean against a wall to people-watch.

The people nearest were new people he'd never really met before but had spied from other floors; mostly from the services sector but there were a few union reps he knew sprinkled about. The most energy was coming from the sudden dance battle between the older officers who needed the drinks and time off.

It was nice to see everyone together. There were still a few people missing: others on duty and some people from the business side. Iruka was trying to not notice in anyone had an infamous silver hairdo.

After meeting him for the first time, Iruka had tried to forget him as much as possible. Kakashi Hatake was a fabulous business man, after all. Attractive, suave and witty, he was unattainable and was a flirtatious bachelor according to all the gossip that he had unintentionally caught wind of. The tv in the break room didn't even have sound but he still always manage to catch when they talked about the young chief executive officer. If anything, he was trying his best to avoid the man entirely but with little success since he always came in person to discuss system updates.

It was apparently because KPD was their "most important client" but Iruka had no doubt that Kakashi knew he was charming enough to try and get his company's influence deeper into Konoha's official departments. If Iruka wasn't being a total skeptic, there was the nice thought that it was because Kakashi really cared about his company and giving the best service which was always appreciated.

Iruka pressed off the wall after a few minutes and decided to get to work on the last report of the year: performance review of the year versus last year's. It was a bit tedious of work but nothing that Iruka hated. He had a secret passion for finding problems. It felt so good to see what worked and what didn't and finding ways to make things better. Tsunade even used some of his suggestions. He felt like he was valued and important. He took pride in his work.

So, he settled in his small office across from Tsunade's for a long night's work. His red plastic cup was empty by the time he looked up at the clock. The new year was close.

Outside, he could hear the party winding up from down the hall. He debated going for another drink and joining the others but his train of thought was stopped by a knock at his door.

Beyond the shade that covered his glass door, he couldn't see who it was exactly but was the outline of hair and wondered how Asuma was still here. "Come in."

It wasn't Asuma by a long shot.

Red cups in both hands and dressed in a formal black suit, Kakashi Hatake slowly pushed open the door. He was smiling that smirk and Iruka noticed how his tie almost matched the cups.

"Happy new year," came the soft greeting and Kakashi's smoky eyes flicked to look him over. "Heard you were still working and thought I'd bring you a new year's gift."

"Oh, a gift, huh?" Iruka couldn't help but tease, accepting the gift of a cup when Kakashi strode over next to his desk.

"Hope you like it." There was a wink.

"It's nice," he said after a sip coyly. "Very thoughtful, thank you."

He was trying to ignore the burning that was building up his cheeks when he noticed the touch of pink across the other man's nose. Was that a blush? Was he that intoxicated already?

"You look a little tipsy," Iruka couldn't help but comment to which Kakashi smirked. He put his cup down on Iruka's desk to slide his hands in his pockets in a way that kind of reminded Iruka of a kid he used to tutor; a shy one who didn't talk much.

Eyes glancing at the floor, Kakashi's lips never stopped smiling. "Haven't drank anything yet actually."

Iruka glanced down at his own cup and smiled, feeling his chest swell as he held up his cup, "well, toast to the end of a year then?"

Picking his up and tapping his to Iruka's, Kakashi met Iruka's eyes and said smoothly, "to a new year."

They both downed their drinks and gasped for air, laughing through coughs. Down the hall, they heard a cheer and they glanced over at the time on Iruka's laptop to find it had ticked into the next day.

In the moment that followed, Kakashi stayed silent as Iruka distracted himself with the voices down the hall. Sitting on the edge of Iruka's desk, Kakashi was leaning in and closer then before. Their knees were barely touching but the heat was starting to get to Iruka. He noticed how the shirt under Kakashi's suit jacket was pristinely white and how the collar button and first button were undone, collar bone peeking out. He could feel himself truly flush when he realized how cleanly shaved Kakashi was except for the small patches of aftershave under his sideburns. Damn, he was handsome.

Just as his mind wondered what Kakashi would look like unshaven, the man reached a hand out and started pressing keys on Iruka's laptop.

"Kakashi, don't-" Iruka stood to stop him but his hand was caught and he froze, his eyes meeting Kakashi's as the panic fluttered into a thrill.

"I saved. So you don't lose your work." The hand and eyes never left his and he fought a twitch when the thumb started moving in slow circles up his wrist. Eyes wandered unmistakably down Iruka's face.

This was going somewhere and Iruka could tell. But he didn't know if he wanted to stop it. His mind was thinking of all the future outcomes of this and the most likely ones. The rest of his body though was smoldering. Their eyes met again and he was on fire.

A squeal rang out loud down the hall and they were suddenly back in reality. They both stepped back from each other and Kakashi slowly backed his way to the door with that flush of colour staining his cheeks still.

"I'll just…" He was pointing out the door over his shoulder and backing up slowly. Iruka nodded.

"Yeah, go have fun." He smiled awkwardly and Kakashi held his hand up in a small wave.

"I'll see you later." The loaded statement was left behind and Iruka took his first deep breath in a while.

He tried to get back to work. It was a very valiant effort but all he could think of was how his pants were so tight and how those eyes were so deep and mysterious. And that cute beauty mark. Oh, he wanted to do things to that man. Hell, he wanted that man to do things to him more. There was the hope that Kakashi would stride back in once the party and take him over and over again against his desk.

An hour had passed and there was still the soft music playing from down the hall but Iruka had only one new sentence on his page. It wasn't even a real sentence.

A few minutes of struggling with himself later, he finally left his office for the bathroom. Music even more loud in there, he didn't mind the distraction. Letting the hot water run and slowly washing his hands, he wondered what Kakashi's hands felt like. It was a thought that devolved into what Kakashi's hands would feel like on him. He was so damn hard. Just as he was considering going into a stall and just taking care of it, the door opened behind him and Kakashi strode to freeze in his step.

At first, there was surprise. Then Iruka snapped out of it and blushed as he shut the water off, turning his back to Kakashi to dry his hands. He was so hard and he really, really didn't want Kakashi to see.

Iruka was painfully aware of the other man coming up behind him and had just noted how was warm Kakashi was when he actually felt Kakashi pressing against him. Suddenly extremely aware of his back, a hand touched his hip, sending pulses through him that stopped him from moving of reacting.

"Iruka," Kakashi murmured into his ear and his lips only barely brushed against Iruka's ear.

This was happening, his mind decided and Iruka pressed back into warmth, grinding into the other man and earning a groan. Both of Kakashi's hands were on his hips and pulling him in to press harder together. There was already a bulge pressed up against him but Iruka moved more, smirking at the fact that he was making such an amazing man almost moan into his ear.

Iruka had to press a hand against the wall to keep from getting pushed over and one of the hands on his hips moved to his belt, undoing it with shaky hands as deep voice in Iruka's ear murmured, "sorry, I can't help it."

The hands soon abandoned the fight with Iruka's belt and instead slid down to touch the tent in his pants. As he languidly sucked on Iruka's earlobe, the hand started moving up and down the front of his pants in slow strokes that had Iruka almost dripping into a puddle. They started moving quicker and the heat was so good. It was almost too good and Iruka knew he was reaching his boiling point sooner than he wanted.

Wiggling out of Kakashi's grip, he twisted around to press a hand against Kakashi's chest and away. They were panting now in a daze and staring at each other with burning cheeks and even hotter breaths.

"Do you have a condom?" Even though Iruka found the confidence to ask, Kakashi's face had gone bright red with the implications and he nodded eagerly with a glint in his eyes that made Iruka even harder than before. By his crimson tie, Iruka pulled Kakashi in for a fiery kiss that had them panting and grinding into each other again. Hands were all over each other this time and they almost didn't hear when a loud bang hit the wall next to the bathroom door.

It sounded like a couple giggling and while Iruka froze in panic, Kakashi dragged them into the handicapped stall just as the door opened. The sounds of kissing and moaning reached their ears as the couple moved into the stall next to them. Arms wrapped around each other, Iruka tried to hold back and laugh that was too contagious.

With embarrassed grins, they quietly unlocked their stall and slipped out of the bathroom in a flash. As soon as they were in the hall, they burst out laughing as Iruka tugged Kakashi towards his office with a burning smile. They had barely rounded the corner when Kakashi pulled Iruka into a stop and cupped his cheeks, pressing him against the wall to kiss him again.

Kakashi's tongue was a lot more confident then his hands and Iruka was melting just by kisses alone. A sly thought pop into his mind and while Kakashi's hands were on his cheek, Iruka's slid down Kakashi's chest to stroke the front of the man's pants. A deep moan only encouraged him and he quickly started undoing Kakashi's belt with success.

His hand slid down the man's pants and started slowly playing with his tip. The groan Kakashi made was deliciously arousing and he couldn't help but pepper kisses down the other man's neck. Somehow he found himself on his knees, taking Kakashi's member into his mouth and sucking as hard as he could until the older man was gripping his hair and moaning for him to stop.

"Oh fuuuck," Kakashi panted out as Iruka looked up at him, slowly sliding his out of his mouth. With a lick of his lips, he slid back up the wall to smirk at the man who was gripping the wall on either side of his head.

"You flirt," Kakashi purred as he suddenly bent down to sweep Iruka and carry him towards his office, kissing his neck the whole while and muttering, "you little, teasing, beautiful fucking man."

The whole way Iruka laughed and let Kakashi let all sort of marks on him, knowing he was the one that made this man so hard that he could feel it pressing against him as he was carried.

They reached his office and he was down while Kakashi closed the door and turned the lock. The quiet of the room suddenly had his heart jumping inside his chest again and when Kakashi turned back to him, he could help but shyly retreat as the other man stalked forward.

The kisses were short but many and Iruka was laid onto his desk as hands finally got his belt off, pushing his pants and shoes to the floor. The mouth that was kissing his so sweetly moved lower and lower until it started licking and sucking on his erection. It took only a few seconds for Iruka to start moaning and suddenly the mouth was gone. He didn't expected when a hand slowly slid a condom onto him and he looked down to see Kakashi doing the same.

The mouth came back to caress his ear, whispering, "as much as I want you to be a mess, I don't think you'd appreciate a messy office."

"Thoughtful." Despite the chuckle, Iruka blushed and slid his arms around the man, feeling the burning starting to grow and starting to shake from need. "Please, Kakashi."

Distracted by kisses and hands all over him and slowly stretching him, Iruka froze at the sudden feeling of the other man's cock inside him. There was a hand on him stroking him and he felt the world close in again on that feeling of pleasure, the pain suddenly melting away. There was no motion and it was almost torturously good when Iruka moved his hips. With a moan, he rolled his hips and Kakashi groaned above him.

"Fuck me," he pleaded and pulled the man in for a kiss as followed the order, starting slow until they both couldn't take it and suddenly thrusting hard and fast until Iruka felt like he was a mess. With one last stroke, Iruka came hard and tightened his legs around Kakashi's hips as the other man pounded in hard to meet the same climax. They both froze before slumping into each with slow kisses.

When Kakashi slid out, Iruka panted and stood as well, turning to hide a flush of embarrassment that they were so quick.

Feeling hands slide around him and brush a nipple, he felt the heat return and he almost came again when a voice in his ear asked, "ready for round two?"

* * *

Hope you enjoy reading as much as I did writing.


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